NYFW Day 5 Pt 2. The Joker, Chilling at the Beach ‘n’ Pleats

Thom Browne.

There’s always that one show that you can’t stop thinking about because even in the melee of shows it sticks with you. That show this season was Thom Browne not least because of his garish get up on the runway but also because in the midst of all that were beautifully crafted clothes. Some designers are in it to make money and others because its their life’s calling and the focal passion of their existence. Thom Brownwe is the latter designer. This collection brought to mind the work of McQueen, elements of an Elizabethan era and Heath Ledge (God rest his soul) in his role as the joker. It takes a person of extraordinary mindset to pull this off; sharp shoulder, big hips, tumbling folds, constructed out of fine materials. This was dark and romantic, extreme and just weird. As for whether this will resonate with the customer, that will depend on the astutness of the retailers I suppose because that seems to be the least of Browne’s concern. Still, this was a good disruption to all that pretty.

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy is as Tommy does, sportswear, beachwear, day wear, casual wear all done in his preppy DNA and this show was no different only this time it was a Westcoast transplant to the Big Apple. Sports jerseys in leather, mini polo dresses, utility jackets, backpacks, short shorts, crop tops, beach wear, slacks…all of this worked in the space which he transformed to a pier with sand dunes and wooden runway. The colours were fresh to death and preppy and this collection will easily appeal to the Hilfiger girl who has remained the same through the years.

Victoria, Victoria Beckham…

Okay I don’t have to explain myself here do I? Good. This is another stellar collection from Mrs B, and I am coveting that oversize dress like a shoe sale at Harvey Nics. I love the variety adopted her, Victoria Beckham went out of her element with this collection and played with shape and proportion, pleats and colour and jacquard…it was all about manipulating textures and colour, the pleat dress was a myriad of eleven colours but you won’t know just by looking at it because of how tonally successful the execution was. But my favourite was the voluminous trapeze cut cloque dress that could’ve looked hard and heavy but somehow, someway, it just defined chicness to the core. This was an immediately appealing collection that will easily resonate with lovers of the brand a la moi.