It’s not possible to attend every New York Fashion Week event, but we manage to get by with a little help from our friends.
I met photographer, Andrés Herrera Valenzuela, at Michael Gross’ re-launch of Models last September during the SS/12 runway shows. Following up after the evening’s Fashion Week parties, I delightfully discovered that my new friend had true talent. Not one to pass up an apt advantage, I called on Andrés this season to take over for Nautica at the Empire Hotel.
With the ability to capture this classic, Sperry-donning collection from a fresh and unexpected angle, Andrés deserved more than just the photographer byline.
On Day 7 of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, NOMIA presented its signature streamlined metropolitanism in the Box at Lincoln Center. Relaxed urbanity emerged in loose knot-front jumpers, body-skimming silhouettes, and contrast-blocking. Against a rhythmic, concrete-jungle-esque soundtrack, designer Yara Flynn introduced a refreshing outlook for the fall season.
As I arrived at The Standard on Wednesday afternoon, BEEF was setting up to perform for Arielle de Pinto’s AW12 jewelry presentation. When they recieved their cue to start, hypnotic sounds began to waft from the speakers.
Models emerged in the designer’s architectural pieces of crocheted and solid metal. Inspired by urban nomads and tribal spirituality, the eclectic showing ended with a distinctive solo dance routine.
On Tuesday evening, New York-based designer, Lars Andersson, presented his “dark urban hippie” aesthetic at Soho Grand. Rich with hooded tunics and draped cardigans, Andersson’s androgynous collection was set to eerie sounds under ominous low-hanging bulbs.
I spoke to boys ofThe Black Soft, who were also drawn to Andersson’s gothic feel. Attracting an eclectic crowd of fashion, music, and New York nightlife insiders, the Swedish knitwear designer’s presentation was a shadowy success.
An impeccable lineup of dresses with faceted leather jewels, feather trims, and caviar beads circled Joanna Mastroianni’s runway for an encore finale – the models gave an emotional applause as 90-year-old Iris Apfel closed the show alongside the designer. The conclusion was so moving that the stranger sitting next to me instinctively clutched my arm as the house lights came back up. But unbeknownst to us, 95-year-old Zelda Kaplan, who had fainted during the show, was rushed to the hospital minutes later and passed away shortly after.
A touching show to commemorate the life of one New York icon also became the last public appearance for another. Joanna Mastroianni’s beautiful collection, coincidentally inspired by a winter journey, became Kaplan’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening – inspiring last moments for a magnetic front row fixture.
Italians are known for their showmanship – and in Italian fashion, theatrics go unmatched. So it is no surprise that Prete & Bruno’s New York debut took place in Lincoln Center’s Stage and consisted of an impressive 44 looks. Matching their consistently sexy and delightfully sensational designs with the runway’s soundtrack, the duo closed the show with Laissez-Moi Danserby Dalida. The finale parade of feather trims and Paris green chiffon dresses made me want to twirl on a stage with fourShail Upadhyaclones circa 1978.
The sound of Blue Jeans (Penguin Prison Remix) by LDR resonated through Lincoln Center’s Studio as the first chiffon-and-fur combination entered Son Jung Wan’s runway on Saturday morning. Since last season, the number of guests filing in for Son nearly doubled – all clamoring to witness her show-stopping pieces like the raccoon fur-lined jacket and navy silk knot gown.
Son Jung Wan launched her namesake brand 12 years ago, gained high-end recognition in Korea, and has now fortified her position as one of the must-see emerging designers in New York.
Captain Kirk, at the brink of his midlife crisis, hired a younger, sexier yeoman to shake up the Empire. Shrouded in sculpted shoulders, mod silhouettes, and angular necklines, she’s secretly positioned herself to take over the starship.
Designer Geoffrey Mac indulged his crowd in futuristic-60s appeal with beehive hairstyles and swinging hemlines. Ultramodern contours and intense contrasts could be spotted from space, yet were objects of fantasy for decades. And on Sunday afternoon at Exit Art, Geoffrey was “…a dream that became a reality and spread throughout the stars.”
I walked into Good Units for Loden Dager to Age of Consent by New Order. As I was scanning the attractive, predominantly-male crowd and enjoying the flawless musical transition from New Order to Crystal Castles, I had the heart-dropping realization that my camera had died, already well aware that my phone was soon to follow. With not enough time to run back to my apartment to retrieve my other outdated technologies, I ran over to Best Buy on 62nd and started barking sales associates into action. After convincing an entire Geek Squad that my issue took precedence over the sweet family purchasing a phone for their teenage daughter, I managed to catch the Rafael Cennamo presentation with a working camera and time to spare.
Complete with tiaras, regal tones, and a take-no-prisoners attitude, the Rafael Cennamo AW 2012 model presentation was an enhanced representation of my manner just minutes prior. Dramatic silhouettes in glittering hues instantaneously commanded the crowd. Dominant at her worst, but majestic at her best, Rafael Cennamo’s lady ruled with a manicured fist.
After wending our way through a labyrinthine arrangement of low-hanging light bulbs, we emerged into a newly transformed space at Center 548 – the most dramatic set by far this season, and once again it would play host to Sally LaPointe and her A/W 12 collection.
The walls, dripping with rusted copper spray paint and studded with large, grimy air vents gave the runway a distinctly subterranean vibe, like that of a musty city sewer. And it stood to reason – this season, LaPointe took her inspiration from Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the story in which protagonist Gregor Samsa wakes up to find he has been transformed into a giant cockroach-like creature and subsequently suffers a bout of isolation and neglect leading to an early death.
The uniquely dark and well-informed trappings of any LaPointe showing now fully asserted, the lights dimmed, the fog rolled, yet what followed was anything but predictable. From tonight’s runway, it would appear that the designer has undergone somewhat of a metamorphosis herself; romantic silhouettes and soft, muted tones dominated the runway this evening - gone was much of the doom and disquietude of her past collections. The juxtaposition of the runway’s comparative softness against the stark squalor of the space’s décor was appreciated, and LaPointe’s signature “metamorphosis” print for this season was an arresting prelude to a new chapter in her design career.
