The Leftovers: New York Fashion Week FW13

Colder weather gives the designers more to play with in terms of textures and fabrics, and the New York Fall/Winter 2013 collections took full advantage. There wasn’t just leather. There wasn’t just fur. There wasn’t just brocade and jacquard. All of them were thrown together in various combinations and featured in every silhouette. The effect could sometimes be overwhelming, especially considering the weight and depth of the fabrics being used, but when the disparate pieces were correctly assembled, the results were lush and layered.

In a repeat of a few years ago, fur turned up on everything from hats to lapels to mittens.

At Carolina Herrera

At Band of Outsiders

At Misha Nonoo

At Alexander Wang

At Marc Jacobs

But this season was truly about combinations. About mixing media. About being forced to really look at the clothes to unearth the subtleties.

At Organic by John Patrick

At Jenni Kayne

At Rag & Bone

At Proenza Schouler

At Rodebjer

At Ohne Titel

At Ostwald Helgason

At Elizabeth and James

At Bibhu Mohapatra

Black, one of the colors of this New York season, benefited greatly from this mixing. Many people dismissively classify black as simple and uninteresting, but this season one had to take a second glance at a color that is so often overlooked.

At Norma Kamali

At Billy Reid

At The Row

At Araks

At Diane von Furstenberg

At Altuzarra

At Jenni Kayne

At Tribune Standard

At Katie Gallagher

The patterns of the season called to mind mixing of a different sort. Most often seen in menswear, houndstooth, glenplaid, and windowpane appeared again and again on the runway. They were featured on items that recalled their more staid roots, such as coats, as well as those that reside in an opposite realm, such as slouchy sweatshirts.

At Creatures of Comfort

At Victoria Beckham

At Tanya Taylor

At Billy Reid

At Creatures of the Wind

At Badgley Mischka

At Karen Walker

At Tommy Hilfiger

At Rag & Bone

At Michael Kors

Continuing on the menswear trend, suiting appeared in various forms throughout much as it did during Resort 2013.

At 3.1 Phillip Lim

At Timo Weiland

At Tory Burch

At Jenni Kayne

At Veronica Beard

The shape of the season also brought to mind another kind of mixing as boxy, almost shapeless, silhouettes topped the feminine curves of the models.

At Billy Reid

At Behnaz Sarafpour

At A Détacher

At ICB

At Organic by John Patrick

At Zero + Maria Cornejo

Last season lacked experimentation. This season seemed to be dealing with it in abundance.


Photos via