Basso dedicates Fashion Week show to Joan Rivers
NEW YORK (AP) — As New York Fashion Week passed the midway point, Monday was a show of spectacle, celebrity and style.
Carolina Herrera, a doyenne of the design world, showed a collection made new with digital prints and foam embellishments.
And designer Dennis Basso remembered his friend Joan Rivers, whose funeral he’d attended Sunday; the comedian and host of E! network’s “Fashion Police” died on Sept. 4.
He kicked off his show with a recorded message — “I would like to dedicate this collection to Joan Rivers who has brought laughter and happiness to all of us” — followed by a minute of silence.
A day before, Versus Versace brought a technological twist to a runway show — allowing people to immediately buy runway looks. Edun, the brand founded by Bono and wife Ali Hewson, unveiled a Nigeria-inspired show. And Kendall Jenner, who first walked the runway at New York Fashion Week last spring, reappeared as a model for Diane Von Furstenberg.
A look at the highlights:
CAROLINA HERRERA
It’s not easy being Carolina Herrera after 34 years in fashion.
Coming up with something fresh to please customers while remaining loyal to her house this time around at New York Fashion Week had her turning to digital prints and foam geometric embellishments in colors fit for spring: reds in deep shades and bright neon, soft yellow and neutrals in a light mushroom tan.
This season, she endeavored to decode flowers in different ways. She pixelated a large red one with leaves in foam pieces sewn to the long full gown of one of her final looks, pairing it with a stiff bright white bodice.
Elsewhere, she used splashes of beading. One in deep red covered the front of a loose skirt above the knee with more of the same beading at the collar of a matching, boxy shortsleeved top.
The technical fabrics allowed her to mold some collars high off the neck, including a sporty knit open jacket in neon orange paired with a roomy white jersey top and loose trousers.
–Leanne Italie
VERSUS VERSACE
Talk about your one-stop shopping.
If you liked the sexy numbers on the Versus Versace runway Sunday night — many of them tight, short, black, and embellished with gold hardware — you could purchase them the moment the show ended. All the outfits were on sale at VersusVersace.com.
Such immediate shopping looks to become a Fashion Week trend — BCBG MaxAzria introduced a similar initiative at its show last week, though not every single look was available. It appears that designers want to capitalize instantaneously on the buzz surrounding their new collections — and not wait for others to knock off their looks before they’ve had a chance to sell them.
Rihanna was there, as was Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Hudson, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and young TV stars Bella Thorne and Victoria Justice. Donatella Versace, of course, was on hand to welcome everyone.
The new Versus Versace line, less expensive than the company’s high-end line, was designed by Anthony Vaccarello, a Belgian of Italian descent. His collection had lots of sleek-fitting numbers in black, featuring gold buttons, lion’s head piercings, buckles and breastplates..
The most evocative piece was a tight, one-shoulder black dress that had an entire body-length slit held together with clasps — recalling the famous Versace safety pin dress worn by actress Elizabeth Hurley at the 1994 premiere of “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”
There were several men’s items as well — a black leather vest, for example, or white sneakers with more of that gold hardware.
–Jocelyn Noveck
EDUN
The Africa-facing brand Edun, founded by Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, printed dots on wide cropped pants in blue and red along with line patterns on bright white looks for its spring collection.
Designer Danielle Sherman said backstage after Sunday’s show that the collection was Nigeria-inspired. She included large silver pendants to help represent “balance and unity,” which also was expressed in the juxtaposition of perfect digitally-created circles mixed with irregular ones in prints.
Sherman carried the circle motif into large belt buckles. The dot trims popped in flame red against loose black pants and jackets.
Black leather trimmed a white and gray crop top worn with matching judo-inspired pants.
Shoes, including flats, were created to match the clothes, dots included, in another of the brand’s collaborations with Manolo Blahnik.
Among the celebrity guests in Edun’s front row: Rihanna, dressed elegantly in white, and Laurie Anderson, the widow of Lou Reed.
–Leanne Italie
DVF
You know that sullen model stare?
Diane von Furstenberg was having none of it at her New York Fashion Week show on Sunday, in which she channeled the theme of the sunny French Riviera in the 1950s. Many of her models smiled as they sauntered down the runway in little gingham numbers or other cheery prints that succeeded in being both sweet and sexy.
Those models included none other than supermodel Naomi Campbell, who closed the show in a short, multicolored chiffon “boudoir dress,” delighting attendees like Whoopi Goldberg. Kendall Jenner, the model and half-sister of Kim Kardashian, also walked the runway.
And the designer herself? She broke into song as she acknowledged the crowd at the end, not merely waving from the runway entrance, as most designers do, but taking an entire lap around the runway, shaking hands, kissing friends and even singing a few bars of the 1970s song “Paroles Paroles” (Words, words) along with the soundtrack.
Before the show, von Furstenberg said she was thinking not just of the Riviera sun, but of French actress and sex symbol Brigitte Bardot, and also simply of “happiness,” when she designed her collection for spring 2015.
–Jocelyn Noveck