California Continues at New York Fashion Week
NEW YORK—The West Coast continued its presence at New York Fashion Week, which ran Feb. 1–8.
More than 20 California designers participated throughout the week, with runway shows under the tents at Bryant Park during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and with independent events in Manhattan.
Some of the highlights—such as runway shows by Monique Lhuillier, Koi Suwannagate and Tadashi Shoji and presentations by Jenni Kayne, Trasteverine and Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent—are featured in this week’s continued coverage in California Apparel News.
In addition, get a sneak peek at the “Project Runway” season-four finale runway show featuring Los Angeles designers Rami Kashou and Kathleen “Sweet P” Vaughn. Additional coverage of the week’s fashion lineup can be found on the Fashion Slideshows page.
Jenni Kayne merged 1990s grunge with 1930s and ’40s silhouettes to create the feeling of relaxed sophistication for her Fall 2008 collection.
The Los Angeles–based designer presented her line on Feb. 8 in a town house in Manhattan’s West Village. Kayne said she loved the old-school New York feel of the house with beautiful moldings and light and bright effects that contrasted its distressed furnishings. She decided to continue with the presentation format done last season since the two-hour time slot created a flexible viewing schedule for guests. “With my collection you can really walk up to it, see what it is and touch the fabrics,” Kayne said. “To see everything together is such a great cohesive message.”
The designer contrasted dark moody menswear fabrics with elegant silk chiffons, sequins and cashmere suitings. She created a floral patchwork print for a 1930s dress with delicate godets and a leopard print that she turned into an elegant long skirt and blouse. Slouchy menswear-inspired blazers layered over cocktail dresses and suits were trimmed with fox fur. A blue-and-black plaid added a touch of color to the black, brown and gray palette.
Koi Suwannagate showed an elegantly hand-sculpted yet modern collection for her New York Fashion Week runway debut.
The show, held Feb. 5 at the Bumble and Bumble salon in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, was an artistic showcase of the designer’s work. “This is my first show, so this is what I have done in the past until now,” Suwannagate said. “I tried to put everything in it. It’s like introducing Koi Suwannagate to the audience,” explained the designer.
Suwannagate, who was a finalist for the prestigious CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award last year, didn’t disappoint. The collection was a fresh take on femininity. The show began with models in cashmere gowns in brilliant sunset hues and ended with models walking in mud-covered feet. The Thai designer said she pictured a relaxing lake setting with colorful hummingbirds as her inspiration. She utilized her signature recycled cashmere and expanded her fabric repertoire to include wool, silk organza and various metallic blends. Hand-sculpted flowers and delicate embroidery decorated everything from necklaces to the trims of day dresses and elegant evening gowns. Standouts included a burgundy-and-orange cashmere jacket paired with a long red patchwork skirt, a creme cashmere gown with sculpted rosettes and a silk cummerbund, and a chic black sculpted corset top paired with a layered metallic and silk organza skirt.
Hollywood is certainly lucky to have Monique Lhuillier in its backyard.
The designer has dressed many celebrities for the red carpet and several—including Amy Smart, Brittany Murphy and Sophia Bush—turned out to see the designer’s Oscar-worthy collection on the runway Feb. 5 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
Brimming with elegantly draped gowns, jewel-encrusted dresses and feather-adorned flapper frocks, the collection was an unapologetic display of luxury. Inspired by the smoky and loungy feeling of the 1920s and ’30s, the designer turned out modern pieces inspired by the time period. Fluid lines were accented with heavy beading on body-skimming shapes, jewel-encrusted jackets anchored the elegant lines of evening gowns, and fur added an ultra-luxe finish to jackets. “I’m all about making an entrance and having people remember what that lady was wearing,” Lhuillier said. “It’s a little more theatrical, but I thought for evening [I should] pull out all the stops.”
The rich palette—in olive greens, gold jacquards, blue velvets, rich peacocks and ombreacute; gray hues—had a touch of Old World elegance. A noir fur coat with layered embroidery was fabulously over-the-top, an olive-green strapless dress with an ostrich skirt was chic and modern, and a noir gazar strapless gown had a stunning exaggerated ruffle bodice and skirt.
For Tadashi Shoji, Fall 2008 is all about the fold. The designer explored new materials and shapes this season to create beautifully draped garments that played on the illusion of depth and movement.
Shoji presented the collection Feb. 8 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. He collaborated with stylist Tina Chai to merge the look of Old World glamour and modern sophistication. Shoji said he was equally inspired by elegant 1940s weddings and modern technology when creating the collection. He challenged himself to explore the art of draping material using heavier-weight fabrics and Lycra blends.
The designer—who has dressed celebrities such as Halle Berry, Claudia Schiffer and Queen Latifah—is known for his beautifully sculpted dresses that drape and flatter the female form. The collection included a range of cocktail, day and evening looks in a jewel-toned palette of emerald, aubergine, mahogany, scarlet and opal gray. He experimented with knotted-waist details in styles such as an aubergine stretch-silk/cotton cocktail dress and a charcoal-gray silk/wool jumpsuit. Other ensembles were cut with clean chic lines, such as a hunter-green double-satin silk trench coat layered over a black, long-sleeved cashmere turtleneck and charcoal-gray skirt. And evening gowns were nothing short of elegant, with dramatic draping and asymmetric necklines made in silk satins, crepes and organzas. Trasteverine
Michalyn and Ryan Andrews may reside on opposite coasts, but they maintain a successful creative dialogue when designing their Trasteverine collection.
The brother-and-sister design duo showed a Fall collection full of avant-garde shapes, vintage-inspired construction and timelessly designed garments. The two presented the nine-piece collection, titled “Mon Pauvre,” at the Greene-Naftali Gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea Art District on Feb. 6.
Guests sipped sparkling white wine while viewing short films by Alia Raza featuring Devendra Banhart, Jennifer Herrema and Chloe Sevigny, who made an appearance at the event.
Michalyn Andrews said the collection was inspired by the idea of austerity with the memory of decadence. The films illustrated the theme of decadence in beauty and fashion. In one, Herrema shaved her legs repetitively, Banhart applied perfume to every orifice of his body and Sevigny washed, scrubbed, toned and applied moisturizer to her face over and over and over.
The collection itself had a decadent yet timeless feeling of the wearable avant-garde. The brother-and-sister team utilized kimono styling to create pieces such as a hooded coat with oversize lapels. A chic tunic had diagonal seaming across the bust, an exaggerated draped collar was applied to a stylish dress and oversize pockets added a designer edge to a simple tunic.
Other dresses featured sexy under-the-bust details to emphasize the deacute;colletage, and a long gown (a favorite of Sevigny’s) had bat-wing sleeves and an elegant draped neckline.
Twelfth Street By Cynthia Vincent
Acrobatics were on the mind of Cynthia Vincent when she designed her Fall ’08 Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent collection. The designer translated turn-of-the-century circus style into modern-day fashion.
Vincent presented the collection Feb. 4 in her showroom located on 40th Street adjacent to Bryant Park. The showroom was converted into a circus tent complete with trapeze artists, flying women and carousel horses.
A circus tent hung from the ceiling, and 1930s circus footage was projected on a wall. Vincent, who is a master at reinterpreting vintage style, updated the carefree style of acrobats into stylish, wearable pieces for the woman of today.
She modernized retro dress silhouettes, decorated dresses, and knit tops with sequins and feathers and expanded on comfort with chic knitwear offerings. Vincent also incorporated cultural and artistic pursuits of the time period by applying graphic American-Indian prints to skirts and cardigans and turning needlepoint prints into dresses and skirts.
Showstoppers included a green A-line dress with beaded shoulder detail, a gray knit belted trench cape and a red dress with art deco–inspired neck detail. The presentation was also a great opportunity to showcase Vincent’s shoes and expanded boot collection with creative displays throughout the showroom.
