A New Yorker without a pass to Olympus Fashion Week tries to get a peek
© AFP Robyn BeckNEW YORK (AFP) - Unforgiving drainpipe trousers, which emerged last season, were out on the Big Apple's catwalks in force for spring-summer 2007, along with bermuda shorts and boxers.
Last season featured looks harking back to the 1980s, and designers have continued in the retrospective vein, with jumpsuits from Marc Jacobs, Ruffian and Marchesa, fitted denim overalls from Alexandre Herchcovitch and zippered jackets from Lacoste.
Bustier gowns from Marchesa and Luella and short shirt dresses from Diane von Furstenberg have set the trend for next season. Pleated skirts are also all the rage -- long at Lacoste, or short at Marc by Marc Jacobs or Diane von Furstenberg.
Since fashion week opened last Friday, solids, not prints, have dominated the runways. When there has been colour, it's been canary yellow, shocking pink or bright orange. Von Furstenberg, for example, revisited the traditional little black dress, but cinched it with a large pink belt, and offered an 80s-style bustier ensemble in stretch fabric.
A model walks the runway at the Marc by Marc Jacobs show
© AFP Robyn BeckAlexandre Herchcovitch's collection featured African-inspired tops, shorts and striped and multicoloured print dresses. In contrast, Jacobs played with cream, beige and gray.
The US designer -- by far the week's brightest star -- sent out a series of spectacular pieces including short, multi-layered dresses, flared tops in paper cotton over jodhpurs and baggy pants, either long or cut off at the knee, with tops in feather-like fluid lace over bulbous tulip shorts.
Jacobs reinterpreted the biker jacket in linen, the bomber jacket in tulle and finished his models off with mirror jewellery and small caps perched at an angle over the forehead.
Marc by Marc Jacobs, his secondary line, on the other hand evoked traditional American country style, with cropped denim trousers and overalls for men and patchwork, coloured print dresses for women.
Jacobs was not alone in drawing delicate and airy inspiration for the season. Much talked-about Australian newcomer Toni Maticevski came out with diaphanous trapeze dresses in silk organza.
A model walks the runway at the Diane Von Furstenberg show
© AFP/Getty Images/File Frazer HarrisonThe creative duo behind Marchesa also opted for an aethereal theme. The eveningwear specialists offered a collection of draped ivory, black and pink Empire-line wraps, mini-dresses cut low in the back and bustier micro-dresses.
Their sculpted silk pieces put an avant-garde edge on a classic base.
Marchesa hired stylist Rachel Zoe -- who made over Hollywood starlets such as Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan -- to add a bit of glamour to their runway, which featured black and mirrored walls.
German Kai Kuhne, who left trendy New York collective AsFour to set up the "Myself" label, presented a collection of "German origami" -- featuring bustier gowns and wrap dresses in finely-worked fabrics.
Among the newcomers at New York fashion week, which ends Friday, are Jovovich-Hawk, a duo of actress and top model Milla Jovovich and collaborator Carmen Hawk, whose collection showed a very different inspiration with long floral dresses.
©AFP