Once again everyone from rock stars to reality stars, bloggers to buyers, fashionistas to photographers braved record-breaking cold temperatures at New York for Fashion Week.
Kendall Jenner wasn’t the only member of the Kardashian family who graced the runway this year, Kylie Jenner modeled at Kanye West’s first presentation for his collaboration with Adidas. There was also a resurgence of famous supermodels like Karolina Kurkova at Marchesa and Naomi Campbell who closed out the Zac Posen show.
Probably the most anticipated show was Peter Copping’s debut for Oscar de la Renta after the iconic designer passed away in October 2014. Although Mr. de la Renta personally picked Copping as his successor, due to his untimely death, the two never actually worked together.
Looking back at the New York shows, we find ourselves regurgitating similar trends from the prior seasons. We yearn for something new in design, technology, presentation, etc. Yet, to those very few who took a risk, creating bold and daringly different designs from their past collections, like Proenza Schouler, we ask ourselves, “who would really wear that?”
Here are some of the trends to take note of, for later this year.
Culotte Craze
The culotte craze appears to transcend seasons, it was popular the past Spring and Fall. Many woman wonder how to wear the gaucho. Designers like Jason Wu paired it with a fur vest over a blazer; Victoria Beckham added turtle neck sweater with tall boots and Calvin Klein rocked it as a jumpsuit. This 70s hit is here to stay; can you dig it?
Mad For Plaid
Unfortunate for the Brooklyn hipsters still wearing plaid, the fall will bring a more refined version of the tartan. Marc Jacobs added some shimmer to plaid dresses and coats while Michael Kors accented the collar of plaid suits and dresses with fur, as did Altuzarra on his plaid coats.
Fur Real?
PETA has their work cut for them. We were hard pressed to find a runway that didn’t include some fur in the collection. Whether real or faux, fur could be seen as coats, as stoles, as cuffs on suits and as collars on dresses. Marc Jacobs sent mink coats in striped color combinations including black/brown. Reem Acra added fur to the shoulders of leather jackets while Zac Posen created a monochrome formal look by pairing a fur top with a formal pleated silk skirt.
Fringe Benefits
Fringe is on fire for Fall. The inspiration came in the form of the roaring 20s flapper girls at Marchesa, the hippie movement of the late 60s and early 70s at Rebecca Minkoff or Western/Native American influence at Ralph Lauren. These tassles came in many forms including feather and even leather strips.
The Many Shades of Red
Not surprisingly, the predominant color at the New York shows was black. It was hard to find another color in some of the top shows, including Alexander Wang and Donna Karan. The ox blood of the prior Fall season seems to continue but the range of reds has expanded to include brighter scarlets and even orangey reds. The fiery color was punched up at Proenza Schouler, voluminous on a caped blazer at Delpozo, stunning as a turtleneck cape with wide leg pants at Christian Siriano, and present on countless gowns, including Oscar de la Renta.
Pialy Aditya and Sonaly Aditya are fashion-tech entrepreneurs in the New York startup scene. Reach them on Twitter @pialyaditya and @sonalyaditya.
