Thursday, April 4, 2013

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