Bad timing? New York’s mixed fashion week, which took place from February 10 to 15, struggled to exist outside its own borders, overshadowed by an avalanche of fashion news. On February 10, star stylist Phoebe Philo finally announced her return to business. Two days later, Rihanna, pregnant, ignited the web with her performance at the Super Bowl – much has been said about her total red look, branded with European brands Alaïa, Loewe, MM6 x Salomon. On February 14, Louis Vuitton defied predictions by appointing singer Pharrell Williams as artistic director of men’s collections. Meanwhile, New York Fashion Week unfolded its 74 parades and presentations, far from uninteresting. The proof by five.
veils and hairs
Not even shy: New York has ensured a strange split with two rather contradictory underlying trends. Transparencies have thus gone well, taking the form of green, ochre, lilac or bubble-gum pink chiffon dresses where we see everything below at Coach, nightie dresses for the heiress of the Addams family at Rodarte , ultra-sexy jumpsuits at Heron Preston, gauze crop tops at Dion Lee… Conversely, hair warms up other silhouettes, with faux fur, in stoles at Altuzarra, in tank tops at Eckhaus Latta, in tracksuit at Palomo Spain, and some sheepskin at Khaite, who used it to cut his coats, but also pants and even mules.
A name to remember: Khaite
Award holder “designer of the year” in the women’s fashion category at the CFDA Fashion Awards in November 2022, Catherine Holstein has established herself as a key player in New York fashion week with her brand Khaite, founded in 2016. In her new store on Mercer Street, she presented a stylish and very portable collection. The models look chic and powerful in their long fur coats, double-breasted jackets, long sheer skirts that skim the floor. A fair balance between minimalism and eccentricity which justifies its success and the forthcoming opening of ten new boutiques in the next five years.
Surreal parades
To succeed in the twists and turns of social networks, you have to create strong images. Bringing a surreal touch to clothes often turns out to be a good bet. Like the duo Area, which draws an improbable series of creations imitating fresh or decomposing bananas (in velvet dresses, denim bustier, pearl crop top…) or watermelons. Or, in another genre, Hillary Taymour, from the Collina Strada label, has amazed her world with masks and prostheses using animal appendages (donkey’s ears, pig’s snouts, duck’s beaks, dog’s head, etc.) , shaped by British makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench. Accessories giving his clothes, made up of layers of lace, satin, flannel or unsold lengths of checkered fabric, an impossible-to-miss strangeness. But also a message of awareness of vegetarianism. Title of collection? “Please don’t eat my friends!” »
Businesswomen on the rise
Particularly in shape this season, Tory Burch and Gabriela Hearst have in common to have founded their independent label and to struggle, each season, to inject oxygen and develop it. The first, skilled in inventing successful accessories, rehabilitates the pointy-toed heels of the 2000s and multiplies the bags to be carried by hand. She adds large coats, satin tops, cashmere sweaters, sometimes stitched with nonchalant details or as if deliberately finished in a hurry: raw edges, traviole belt, safety pin left in the canvas… In a more modest, Gabriela Hearst also continues to trace her path. Appointed artistic director of the Chloé house in 2020, she has not given up on her own New York label. Again this season, the Gabriela Hearst show is among the most compelling proposals, with chunky knits, braided leather coats and understated tailoring inspired by the work of architect Eileen Gray.
A more developed formal research
Historically, New York Fashion Week was best known for sportswear and easy-to-wear outfits. But this season, some designers have pushed American fashion to its limits. Never short of spectacular effects, Thom Browne offered his variation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince: coats with stretched shoulders, jacquard corsets, a frenzy of crinolines and bows, tweed with bouclé and deconstructed rugby striped tailoring. and reassembled. Elsewhere, the Spaniard Alejandro Gomez Palomo of Palomo Spain returned to childhood, with naive dresses of idealistic little girls worn by muscular boys or pop pieces, feathered, sequined, in terrycloth, embroidered with crystals… As for the American Carly Mark of Puppets and Puppets, confidential until then, she knew how to get noticed with a horrifying and sculptural parade, dominated by blood red, nourished by the film False pretenses (1988) by David Cronenberg.
