New York Fashion Week: Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent
Cynthia Vincent showed her collection for the first time in New York’s Bryant Park on Feb. 7 during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The designer, who opened a corporate showroom in New York last season, said she felt it was time to expose a New York audience to her collection, which showcased her Fall 2007 looks.
Vincent said she was inspired by the subversive innocence of the 1950s, lesser-known 1950s couture mixed with the style of the 1930s. She was also influenced by the finearts philosophy of Black Mountain College, the look of the avant-garde artists of the time period and the idea of things not always being as they appear.
The designer’s aesthetic of modernizing vintage style continued with this collection. This time she updated the iconic cashmere cardigans of the 1950s by elongating them into an oversize men’s cardigan shape with beads and Swarovski crystals. She did the same thing for a capelet and dresses with Watteau backs by cinching the fronts and billowing the fabric in the back. The collection varied from body-conscious silhouettes to full silhouettes, such as the skinny pant and wide-leg trousers.
She used neutrals—such as gray, camel, black and brown—accented by hints of blush, cobalt blue, sea glass and sherry. 1930s styling came into play with hats and gloves inspired by the decade. —N. Jayne Seward
