New York Fashion Week Fall 2015: Day Five

Carolina Herrera: Wave Form

“Making waves” said Carolina Herrera backstage after a graceful and refined show where the movement of water was translated into the language of clothes.

There was something mesmerising about patterns of sea swell and waves, whether they appeared in swooshes on a long gown or simply on daywear. One would have the effect of light on water, the other a wave reduced to a thin white line.

Carolina’s style is always a classy glamour, which does not change much with the seasons. But the Winter 2015 outfits were treated with techno droplets or photo prints of the swelling sea. The balance of cream, black and white with a touch of hotter colour was well done.

If the Herrera sophistication is exceptional, so, too, is her current concept of modernising it with digital explorations. The show could have been more tightly edited, but it had enough edge, with its flat shoes and twenty-first century printing, to seem modern.

Thom Browne: Back to Black

Only when I looked into the intense, decorative darkness of Thom Browne’s collection, did I realise how relatively little black we have seen at New York Fall/Winter 2015.

With colour – especially the favoured 1970s orange – brightening up the season, Thom Browne’s success was remarkable.

His women were, of course, dying for the black widow look: faces veiled, a hat whooshed up like a sailboat, the clothes tailored to perfection.

In what was initially a medical scenario, the set built of circular wooden pens featured two white-clad hospital figures apparently ministering to a sick patient, while a parade of women paid homage.

This ‘hospital’ scene seemed a familiar focus for Browne, though he soon switched to the hospital visitors, whose black ‘mourning’ clothes were densely decorated and often elaborate.

“I wanted it to be romantic – and with the one colour, it needed so much texture to give it light,” said the designer, whose varieties of embellishment within a firm framework were powerful. Two examples were a coat’s shearling collar and cuffs, or chiffon and a tie at the neck.

The intense attention to detail on graceful clothes with a Victorian feel showed Browne at his darkly imaginative best. And it also raised the question: why do so many collections seem literally as well as metaphorically lightweight?

The Row: A Feeling for Now

First there was the clear view through the windows, looking over an ice-blue sky and the Manhattan cityscape.

Then came the clothes – streamlined, but in a gentle way, so that they were shaped to the body without constricting it.

A typical item might be a white suit, the skirt falling gently to mid-calf, a loose cape of a coat, and the flat slippers that were a significant part of this decent and woman-friendly look.

Modernity is so tough to define, but The Row, and the sisters behind the label – Ashley and Mary-Kate – come close to it: models with sweet faces and an air of natural elegance, as they cuddle into an oversized wool sweater or clutch a bag close to the chest.

The other key word is ‘respect’. Not even a hint of vulgarity suggested by a slit skirt or a plunging neckline.

After The Row’s designer departed for Hermès last year, the new collection might have been a disappointment. But the opposite was true of this fine show.

Tommy at 30

Tommy Hilfiger turned 30 – or at least his sportswear company did.

The celebration called for a big gesture – something the size of a football stadium laid out in the Park Avenue Armory.

This is where Tommy himself ran a lap of applause before embracing his son Ricky, and his son’s partner, Rita Ora.

You did not need to be a devotee of sport to understand the simple clothes – as ever with Hilfiger’s cute schoolgirl look of pleated skirts, leather tunics and any colour that stood out against the stadium’s artificial grass.

That meant shades of wine and orange (a hint of the 1970s) and more stripes than you would find on the scarves of football supporters.

The result? A lively show – with a few mild surprises, such as a shearling baseball top and boots laced up, football style.

But was that really it for 30 years at the helm?

All the frolics on the turf could not make up for a show that seemed very familiar.

Let’s call it a neat exercise in brand management – but not really a winner.

Rag & Bone: Mixing It Up

A silken slip as if from a boudoir worn with a sporty nylon jacket – all sorts of intrigue could be imagined with the eclectic combinations at Rag & Bone.

Mixing high-tech fabrics with soft lingerie material was an intriguing move from designers David Neville and Marcus Wainwright, especially as the colour combinations were also unexpected.

With a nod to a Seventies-meets-Nineties look, mustard and full-on orange were melded with bright navy or shiny black.

It was the casual attitude that gave this collection its energy. Whether the concept was bringing together soft indoor pieces with harder outerwear, or just a casual, modern way of layering, the Rag & Bone show had a sexual charge.

I was reminded of the Nineties, and John Galliano’s celebration of undress, mixed with the nylon bombers of the hip-hop generation. It made for a cool combo. 

Donna Karan: Fit for Purpose

“I have always wanted to empower women,” said Donna Karan of her architectural collection, which followed the female bodyline – with a drape here and there to break the geometry.

Louise worked at Donna Karan from 1997-2002, and helped define the spirit of the brand.

“Power and Poetry” was the title of the Autumn 2015 collection, and it explained the gentle face-off between strict tailoring and soft fabrics.

Against the backdrop of New York at night, the clothes were streamlined, rich in texture, often with a softening drape at the waist.

Fabric was key, with fur or an artisinal weave softening the tailoring that was the show’s bedrock.

The sleek look broke into a gentler evening style, with legs lightly veiled in chiffon. And this Donna Karan show seemed purposeful and to the point, while previously the brand had meandered.