fashion: new york, new york

The spring/summer 10 womenswear season is in full swing thanks to an enthralling display from New York Fashion Week. The highly anticipated event that ends today gave us seven days of nonstop, all inspiring, must have fashion from a host of the country’s own premier design talent along with a healthy mix of international names and new comers. The first of the big four fashion week’s offered up a fantastic preview of what to expect for the upcoming summer and happily gave us hope for a range of rock solid, commercial and wearable trends. Girl power has never been quite so stylish and desirable with many designers opting for maximum femininity whether soft and traditional or strong and vampish it’s clear that 2010 is all about celebrating the female form. 

 Donna Karan’s strikingly sophisticated collection procured abundant praise from mesmerized onlookers and reminded us of the designer’s affinity with classic womanly style. Inspired by her love of nature and the wonder of the elements air, earth, wind and fire, Karan provided a truly wearable body conscious look with a soft rather than restrictive feel. A muted palette of sand, dove grey, apricot blush and dusty blue reinforced the romance of the collection that featured cocoon wrap jackets, diaphanous organza maxi dresses and plenty of alluring jersey basics. Matte Twill weaves and weathered and crumpled silks reminded us of the refreshing natural theme. We are happy to note that Donna Karan along with a handful of New York’s esteemed designers pushed the strong 1940’s shoulder shape for quiet statement jackets, a happy remnant from the fall collections.

Pushing the burgeoning love affair with classic feminine design, New York Fashion week favourite Vera Wang took us on a charming jaunt back to the 1920’s with a collection entitled “Partying with Poiret.” Inspired by Parisian fashion designer, the late Paul Poiret, Wang skilfully summoned a little of his Orientalist spirit and cleverly combined it with her characteristic minimalist style. The mood of the season pushes soft and loose silhouettes perfectly exemplified by Wang’s one shoulder sarong dress in black silk jersey and fluidly draped harem jumpsuit, ideal for runway to retail translation. Sultry layered tulle gowns remind us of the designer’s bridal roots while romantic floral prints and bead and paillette sequin embellishment in celestial shades of pink and silver lifted the otherwise dark collection.

Family design duo sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy of label ‘de jour’ Rodarte opted for maximum impact with their apocalyptic vision for s/s 10. 35 Urban warriors were sent strutting down a catwalk finished with oppressive black grit and clouded by an intoxicating mist of dry ice. Artfully combining ancient primitivism with their signature futurist style the Mulleavy’s offered their best collection to date striking a perfect balance between innovation and wearability without forgoing their love of gothic and heady surrealism. Ragged layers of ‘beg, borrow and steal’ fabrics were in their words ‘ruined’ shredded, burnt and aged for grungy appeal. Delicate cobweb knits, cheesecloth and macramé were intertwined and laced with scraps of leather and plastic and dusted with Swarovski’s to create the most alluring ‘scavenger’ ensembles imaginable.

Supremely influential fashion maestro Marc Jacobs gave us all out theatre for his mainline collection counting on a more commercial look with his secondary Marc by Marc Jacob’s line. Absurdly beautiful the signature collection is without a doubt the talk of the season so far drawing in a star studded audience boasting the likes of style icons Madonna and Lady Gaga, whose electro pop beats provided the soundtrack to the extravagant show. The designer who admitted he “felt no need to rein in my creativity” had models styled to look like haunting pale face clowns and modern Geisha’s with bee stung scarlet red lips. Frock coats, miniature tutus and excessive ruffle dresses and separates decorated with decadent micro pearls were offered in shades of silver, taupe, bijou blue and peach and sat happily with enough wearable pieces to please. Expect demand for copycat semi sheer, pearlescent leggings and Geisha block shoe come flip flops on the high street.

Elsewhere Mpdclick favourite Alexander Wang offered up his brand of sports chic with a ‘must have’ urban grunge appeal, perfect for casual yet edgy streetwear fans. Wang’s self proclaimed “very American collection” was one of many to hail statement jersey for s/s 10. Asymmetric sports bra’s, sweater dresses and gathered knee high sports socks had school team nostalgia and proved ‘too cool’ when layered with the designers modern and desirable interpretation of the classic khaki trench. Sheer fabrics were combined with leather and fierce body con fits with relaxed and slouchy shapes resulting in a range of saleable juxtapositions. 

Be sure to check out our comprehensive coverage of New York Fashion Week and stayed tuned to Mpdclick for our concise s/s 10 overviews guiding you on the best shapes, colours, fabrics and fashion trends to translate from runway to retail.

main image: Marc Jacobs

Below: Donna Karan; Vera Wang; Rodarte; Marc Jacobs; Alexander Wang.