New York Fashion Week is back, big time!
Without further ado, here are a couple of collections showcased so far:
All images courtesy of Style.com
Proenza Schouler
This ensemble-a hyper real flower (asian?) print, defines one of the key trends seen at NYFW so far.
Thakoon
That print-one part cultural-traditional, other part modern and blown up, and so beautifully placed, is just awesome. Note the colour orange, which makes a continuous reappearance throughout the collections.
Philosophy
Sleek, metallic sheen.
Diane Von Furstenberg
The colour combinations!
Michael Kors
More metallics.
Carolina Herrera
And more beautiful metallics.
Marc Jacobs
Hyper real print continues, with metallics and retro glamour touches. The below the knee length returns, as was the case in 2011.
Marc by Marc Jacobs
A different take of a strict uniform, possibly military. Note again the colour orange.
Donna Karan
I love how everything is so modern and so tailored, from the sheer sleeves to the belt that wraps the whole look together.
Preen
Lots of lace, and motifs brought into the 21st century by the use of different materials.
Reem Acra
Hello, perfect Oscar gown.
Theyskens' Theory
This really defines the cool, luxury-edgy chic Theyskens does so well. The jacket is pure awesomeness, and it's not the only gold creation seen so far.
Oscar de la Renta
Starry metallic sweater and a petrol blue skirt with cultural( maybe even a little ancestral) motifs? Winner!
Narciso Rodriguez
Bright spark of Orange. Perhaps even like lava, pouring from the woman.
Vera Wang
The orange craze continues!
The Row
Signature Row: Clean, structured, modern. Reminds me of Celine at times.
Badgley Mischka
Retro nostalgia again.
DKNY
Again, a different take on the military or uniform inspired outfit.
Peter Som
The hips are revisited! Emphasis on this part of the body is a prevailing trend so far.
Prabal Gurung
That gold coat says it all.
Altuzarra
Altuzarra presents pieces that will coveted by the masses, and this coat with its cultural/tribal/abstract art-ish print is no exception.
Monique Lhuillier
Orange pools of lava again.
Alexander Wang
The collar rising up to engulf the woman's lips is a little subversive, and very cool.
Yigal Azrouel
Abstract prints again.
Derek Lam
Purity of white and clean lines.
Jason Wu
Glamorous and somewhat Asian (perhaps Chinese) inspired, I think.
Cynthia Rowley
Tonal layers in different fabric.
BCBG Max Azria
Very athletic, with the two bands of colour giving the dress edge.
Naeem Khan
That print! That dress! Oscar favourite!
Rodarte
They went aboriginal and a little more commercial and it worked brilliantly!
Victoria Beckham
I think all of you reading this have understood just how big orange is becoming the colour of the season, in NY at least.
Zac Posen
Japanese print dresses equal fragile, delicate perfection.
A little resume of some of the trends seen so far:
There are always some kind of print on the runways each season, and this time I think there were two categories: A sort of cultural/tribal abstract mix or hyper real 3D confections.
Metallics, especially gold, is back in a big way.
The body part to watch out for are the hips, given extra attention and padding.
The colour? Orange.
The fascination for all things Oriental, especially East Asian, continues.
A woman empowerment feel, more feminine than usual.
I can't define a decade just yet, usually that is established once Milan fashion week sets in, but it seems to be situated much before the 1950s. A little bit of 20s, 40s...?
New York Fashion Week was particularly incredible this year by the number of shows held and the amount of money generated.
Business Week reported "New York Fashion Week, which starts today [9th of February] and runs through Feb. 16, will bring together about 328 designers, a 61 percent increase from five years ago and the largest lineup to date, according to Fashion Calendar. The main event, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, will host about 90 shows, including Herrera and Diane von Furstenberg. Another popular venue, Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District, will have 40 runway shows and presentations. "
The New York Daily News stated that "The deep pockets at Fashion Week have made the city a fortune.
Mayor Bloomberg said Monday that the city takes in nearly $1 billion annually from the twice-yearly shows at Lincoln Center. The city expects to bring in an estimated $865 million from this year’s Fashion Weeks. That’s a 12% increase from the $773 million in 2007. It’s not a bad business model, the mayor said.
“This success is growing our fashion industry,” he said at a press event in a midtown building that provides space to up-and-coming designers.
“It’s really one of the big reasons New York City is weathering the economic downturn better than other parts of the country.” "
Read more about that here.
Now you are probably thinking: what about a Mauritian Fashion Week?
The answer to that is not so fast, not so soon.
I can count on one hand the number of designers in this country that have enough capital (and the skill!) to create say twenty pieces, rent a venue, pay all the expenses, not to mention all the other procedures involved. You need to send out invites, not sell tickets as was done here for the Extravaganza last year. And counting the number of designers on one hand will not produce a fashion week, it will produce a fashion day if there was to be anything.
Fashion Week is the most desirable place to be seen and to be, but here, it is as if the press and the media in general view fashion as a volatile, whimsical fluff of no importance. The majority of articles written on fashion are done so in a very "let's get done with it as soon as possible" manner, or journalists employ what they believe to be correct terms when they are completely off the mark (yes, you know who you are, please invest in the Fairchild Dictionary of Fashion) and in perfect honesty, the grand majority do not care about events like this and will only write about it because it is news. So count out a beautiful, critical summary of the show that you can read on style.com, the International Herald Tribune or Vogue out of your heads right now. In the papers (there are only very few journalists here who write about fashion correctly) every collection will be described as 'beautiful', 'artistic' etc.
Could it be possible? Well, New York Fashion Week (as you read above) generated a whole lot of revenue. But that's New York. In Mauritius:
a) If you wanted to create a fashion event, you would have to make money out of it through sales of tickets, and make it accessible to the public and not only industry insiders. This would fail because not many Mauritians are willing to pay to examine clothes.
b) Fashion Week causes masses amount of people coming in for the shows, which generates revenue. That won't happen here.
c) There is a total lack of venues available here, at prices that emerging designers with not a huge amount of capital could rent.
amongst other reasons. And I haven't even gone into discussing models (I won't do so either).
BUT BUT BUT
There is ONE event that, if copied, could yield a Mauritian Fashion Week in times to come.
I'm talking about the annual Fashion House Fashion Show. Now they are professionals in this country. They have the capital to invest in a great venue, a long catwalk, awesome lights, photographers, it's invitation only, there is proper music (and not the latest electro whatever, the music is suited to the show), the people organising it are incredibly dedicated and I could go on and on about how awesome the team is. Now if designers, by some way or the other, found the capital necessary to reproduce that in a venue over a couple of days, that should get things rolling.
Have an awesome week and weekend!
xoxo
Alex
Have an awesome week and weekend!
xoxo
Alex
Twitter: @StyleMauritius
Email: Stylemauritius@live.com
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/StyleMauritius
