By Michele Smith
Facebook – MicheleSmithMarketing
With New York Fashion Week 2016 at and end and the masses flocking to London for round two, there were many highlights this year to say the very least. From Alexander Wang to Oscar de la Renta to Prouenza Schouler and the many others who debuted the infamous new lines; the impact was memorable and many of these hot designs are now on the top of the celebrity stylist’s shopping lists. While NYFW 2016 definitely had a top 10, the designers below were without question in the ranks.
Oscar de la Renta
The 2016 theme for this designer can be summarized in a flower …. a carnation. This was the favorite flower of Oscar de la Renta, as evidenced by the frequent placement of a cinnamon-dark carnation placed daily in his button hole. Peter Copping (Oscar de la Renta’s successor) picked up on this theme and the line featured the presence of carnation prints scattered on dresses, swathed skirts and frilled blouses. This show was definitely part of Copping’s modern view of femininity and sexuality. Copping exhibited nothing less than modern casualness and pared suits with jet-embroidered flat espadrilles, tied black ribbons to lilac and ice-blue ball gowns; and even dared to show glimpses of skin through black lace.
Alexander Wang
Alexander Wang celebrated his 10th anniversary in conjunction with this year’s fashion week. In front of the show, a merchant table sold his dosomething.org t-shirts and sweats, to benefit the organization’s youth and social change efforts. Inside the venue, the celebrity sightings were in full-force with Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, Nicki Minaj, and Lady Gaga to name just a few. The theme for this designer was what the modern cool girl downtown wants to wear and featured deconstructed denim, army surplus pieces, pajama silks, slip dresses and a show favorite – a shrunken satin bomber jacket.
Prouenza Schouler
Two words that describes the 2016 Prouenza Schouler line would be haute craft. The designer and partner Jack McCollough, presented a stunning collection for spring, solidifying their recent focus with texture, decoration and asymmetry. The starting point appeared to be Spain, with red, black and white color palettes; showcasing some of the most stellar dresses of the week. The designer’s line presented ruffles with exposed shoulders, pom-poms lining the edges of dresses and jackets in broderie anglaise.
Calvin Klein
The Calvin Klein Spring collection can be defined by slip dresses meeting grunge destruction. The dresses are slack at the bust with extra straps dangling in various ways, and also showcased knit versions, stitched with brass chains fray, disintegrating towards the hem. The largest surprise of the collection were photo prints of flowers that appeared on dresses, pants and trench coats. The new look on the runaway could easily be described as fashionably disorderly, with pant hems unraveled, jacket hems partially sliced away, sleeves extending almost to the fingertips or simply sliced away. The highlight however was the skimpy silk frocks that dominated this year’s New York Fashion Week.
