New York is freeing itself!

After a golden age that began in the mid-2000s, New York has experienced more difficult times in recent years. The wear and tear of certain labels, the departure of several important designers and the financial difficulties of major brands have lowered its rating in the industry. But the parade season which ended on Wednesday, September 12 gives reason to believe in a better future.

Rodarte and Proenza Schouler, two local star brands exiled in Paris in recent seasons, have made their comeback. For foreign brands, the city remains attractive and opens the doors to the huge American market. She was the one chosen by the French house Longchamp for its very first ready-to-wear fashion show. “In today’s media world, the house needs more visibility. New York is for us an unexpected choice which embodies the cosmopolitan and dynamic side of the house ”, summarizes its CEO, Jean Cassegrain. In a more alternative genre, the cult Milan multi-brand store, 10 Corso Como, has just opened a New York address. And new talents are gradually emerging to replace those who have run out of steam.

Above all, American fashion seems to gradually free itself from its eternal pragmatism, synonymous with commercial success but also with boredom. She tries new, more eccentric experiences and finds a versatile glamor that is also in her DNA. We feel a new lease of life in a climate that is nevertheless dark and tense. Who knows where it will lead …

Back to the roots

The diffuse rain posed like a silver fog on the small cemetery in front of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin. This green space straight out of a scene of Midnight in the garden of good and evil is populated by the strange flower women of Roll you : romantic-gothic creatures with toxic fairy-tale dresses that combine pleated tulles and muslins, flower garlands, sparkling crochet, jewelry embroidery and lamé leather. Extracted from any commercial logic, this atmospheric show marks the triumphant return of the Mulleavy sisters, the creators of the brand.

Too bad, however, that Proenza Schouler runs a little short. With an overly conceptual grunge and arty collection, they are less convincing than usual. The figures in stiff cotton, lamé leather and snow denim have volumes that are both too complicated and too strict to be seductive. To be continued next season.

“Teeth of the Sea” vs Disney

Good news, the big prescriber brands are pushing American fashion in a more original direction. Under the leadership of its Belgian artistic director, Raf Simons, Calvin Klein, a former paragon of minimalism, offers itself a new, more avant-garde life. The designer has fun dissecting American culture through iconic elements. And this season is the tension of the film Jaws that electrifies the entire collection. The hybrid clothing is a mix of surf and snorkel outfits, crumpled cocktail dresses, crudely cut-out pleated skirts, American high school uniforms, and T-shirts in the glory of Spielberg’s cult movie. Through this elegance bordering on chaos, the designer imposes a squeaky and seductive eccentricity.

For the leatherworker Coach, the Englishman Stuart Vevers has been inventing for three years an original and young ready-to-wear inspired by his travels. To celebrate summer, he gathered in an imaginary New Mexico desert a band of young people whose weathered outfits skilfully borrow from hippie / punk / neo-romantic repertoires. Lovers of grigris of witches as of Disney heroes (here diverted on tops), they devote a cult to a disturbing creature in rusty metal. In this patchwork of ideas, a sympathetic eccentricity is expressed, slightly dark and cut out for the millennial generation fan of zapping and cultural recycling.

The American season is also experiencing some setbacks for designers who matter. With its prints and saturated colors, its embroidered flared pants and its brocades in acid shades, the collection of Michael Kors leaves on his hunger. We expect more from an iconic New York fashion designer known for his cheerful and accessible sense of glamor.

Always glamor

American fashion also defends a civilized extravagance that is found among the tenors of glamor. The great master of the genre remains Tom Ford. Very fit, he signs a collection for a sexy and sensitive diva, spectacular in a long pleated sheath under a corset belt, dressed in fawn patterns, in a lingerie dress or large soft pink cocoon trench coat. It’s classic Tom Ford with a hint of sweetness that perfectly complements his slightly toxic sense of seduction.

Brandon Maxwell is often compared to Tom Ford. Like him, he is Texan and advocates an off-trend glamorous look. But the world of Brandon Maxwell is more solar, the creator does not hate the kitsch mastered. With its silhouettes under the influence of couture seventies, his summer collection evokes an ultra-chic barbecue in the land of oil fortune. It’s cheerful, benevolent, it stings the nose like a good rosé champagne and makes you want to have fun.

In a more traditional genre, the very chic uptown d’Oscar de la Renta has taken on a new lease of life thanks to two new designers: Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, also founders of the Monse label. With its mix of Japanese and oriental influences, the collection offers sophisticated and dreamy silhouettes, spectacular and politely sexy red carpet dresses. It is also the best collection of the duo.

Marc Jacobs, the defender of an eccentricity fed by European couture, closed Fashion Week in a tense atmosphere. With an hour and a half late – and many defections in the public – he parades an army of hyperfeminine creatures in outfits invaded by ruffles and silk flowers evoking both couture and the circus, the ghosts of Elsa Schiaparelli and Yves Saint Laurent. Shiny satin, screeching taffeta and muslins give an almost eerie fragility to silhouettes a little less inspired than usual. Marc Jacobs’ talent is undeniable, but he is in a delicate situation: his company has closed many of its stores in Europe as well as in the United States, and its future is uncertain. Its eclipse would be a real loss for American fashion.

Old continent

The first official fashion show of the French brand Longchamp is convincing. Sophie Delafontaine’s beautifully colored and textured Californian hippie silhouettes are refined and rather alluring, unpretentious. It remains to be seen what place this fashion can take on the market.

Without consulting the intent note, it is impossible to know that the collection Boss, impeccable but cold minimalism, is also inspired by California. After thanking its American artistic director, Jason Wu, the German brand entrusted the women’s line to Ingo Wilts. The author of men’s creations will have to bring a global fashion vision to the brand, a particularly difficult exercise in 2018, at a time of the fluidity of genres and the crowning of streetwear.

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