Buffalo Spree Magazine

Fashion Week NYC report
Spring 2008 celebrates the feminine

By Catherine Berlin

Evening wear by Terexov.

Last year’s little-girl look is so out. Baby doll pajamas masquerading as day wear are barely visible on the runway now. As sweet and gamine as the dresses were, to say nothing of allowing us to say “yes” to cupcakes, the overall look had its limits. It is hard to be taken seriously when your outfit’s perfect accessory could easily be a pink teddy bear. The style energized and sparkled, and will likely be fawned over again when it reappears in a few years, but next season’s replacements are too exciting to justify any more thoughts on what you spent the last year loading into your closet. Spring marks the start of the Season of the Woman: a curvy, sexy, hot, hot woman.

Day looks by Cynthia Steffe.
Photos by Catherine Berlin.

To make matters better, as a smashing fashion novelty, size doesn’t seem to matter with many of these outfits. We can be heavy and look gorgeous, or thin and be female. We can size ourselves somewhere in the middle and appear absolutely to die for. It’s quite a shocking concept, leading one to think that women might actually be taking over fashion, and not just in the boardrooms and accounting departments. There is a flow of form and options, with very little that is purely humorous or boxy. As the Terexov runway show demonstrates, the upcoming look is all about curves. Designers have created looks with the ability to accommodate almost any very real human shape with adjustments in length (just above the knee to daytime full-length), placement of the waist (cinched at your narrowest location, from midpoint up to empire), and allowing the neckline to grant the chest some attention to detail more sophisticated than a tight pink sweater. Flaunt your cleavage or your ballerina-
esque décolleté, whichever you own, or
simply let the world’s eye rest on your
fabulous shoulders.

Terexov dresses, photograph by
Catherine Berlin. Twinkle dress,
photograph courtesy of Twinkle.

The various wrapping and plunging necklines were combined with belts ranging from skinny to practically wheel-well wide, creating bodices from swimwear to daytime that bordered on bondage. Others, such as the Donna Karan Collection, billowed the soft yet controlled effect of a country estate. In fact, so effective were Karan’s offerings that Anna Wintour’s head was twisting up and down the runway with such “I need to take it all in” focus that she looked as if she were watching a tennis match. Feminine breeze lifted almost all of the BCBG outfits. Still there were body fittings that projected another favorite theme, that of sexy, serious athletic chic.

Fabric is always key to the overall effect of a line, but this year the focus was not on prints or patterns. Designers have turned their attention to color block arrangements, introducing shimmers of gold or silver into the fabric threads, and material swing and pull. It was encouraging to see widespread use of color block and shine because these effects favor almost any age no matter how intense the hues (something not always possible with vibrant or strong prints). The look is further enhanced because of the fabric’s movement, whether from a jersey swing or a silky stretch. When there is a pattern it is incorporated into a bodice to substitute as jewelry, such as we see in the intricacies of an Abaete neckline. Or a weave, as we find in the luxurious, you-can-never-be-too-rich textiles introduced by a masterful Naheem Khan.

Coats are as unstructured as the bodice is bound, with more detail in the fabric. This counterbalance, demonstrated at the Cynthia Steffe show, serves to complement the undergarments perfectly. In other words, as shaped and linear or deliberately flounced as many of the dresses and tops for this spring, the fashion creators provides us coats where only the fabrics’ weaves and collar designs demand attention. This contrast allows the eye to appreciate the coat just long enough before moving on to a more intricate outfit underneath. The coats are stunning enough to be on stage, but they rarely steal the show. Unless of course you explore Akiko Ogawa. Her raincoats and transparencies (like a set of see-through jodhpurs) will set trends for the next five years.

Neckline montage by Catherine Berlin, with photographs by Catherine Berlin and Getty Images.

When it came to sport chic and vibrant classic tailoring, Connecticut-born and Paris-trained Michelle Smith, of Milly, took the spotlight. (Smith was the first American to be accepted into the house of Hermés.) Twinkle gave us a soft top and a shot at the banded leg for shorts. A similar hemmed-in approach, but to the bottom of a skirt, showed up in an Adam Lippes creation, one that updated the preppy-casual look quite brilliantly.

Swimwear by Gottex and wrapped dress by Terexov.
Photograph by Catherine Berlin.

Carolina Herrera offered a red-striped top and white wrapped skirt with angular lifts that proved to me, once again, that she can make anything—even something nautical—look pretty. Monique Lhuillier may be trying to channel Ms. Herrera, but she stood out in her own right in this show. What was even more notable was that last spring she already did the slim tailored cuts with thin belts, putting her ahead of the pack. For this venture, Lhuillier showed more of her bridal flare, keeping a slim line but adding poof and tuille (and opened a new boutique in Los Angeles in her spare time).

One exception to the no-jewelry trend was Peter Som, whose long beads graduated from small around the neck to practically bocce-sized at the point where the end of the chain hit low at the hip bone. Done in bright, solid colors, the look brought a sense of controlled energy to his pieces; a look that worked because controlled energy was an overall effect of the entire week. Another exception—to almost everything written here—was the show for Miss Sixty. The outfits were completely sixties Brit, with long hair parted down the middle, skinny jeans, loose transparent tops, and huge sunglasses. It would be almost foolish to think Miss Sixty would do anything but funk.

So go ahead and get excited about the warmer months. Pick your body part and go for, ahem, broke. Cover or uncover, cinch or breathe; whatever you choose, you will have style options. Just don’t ask me about color. With so much that was wonderful in structure and fabric, I never even noticed. My guess is, however, that whatever works best on you, it will be an option. That was sort of the whole point of the spring and summer show.

Catherine Berlin is a writer, photographer, and lawyer, raising children and a husband in Buffalo. Growing up around the Great Lakes, she has also spent time in California and Arizona, and currently has a second home in Sweden.

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