A return to couture for fall Houston Chronicle
• Photo gallery: New York Fashion Week
NEW YORK — The Fall 2010 collections at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, which concludes today, didn't present many new ideas.
American designers polished their signature looks, interpreting the movement toward a refined and sophisticated style sensibility. Covering the bases from vintage chic to street athleticism to ladylike élan, they tried to be true to themselves while offering sellable clothes.
It's not a bad thing. The garments are beautiful, well-designed, even loaded with couture touches.
This is the sort of fashion that used to get made (read: from great couturiers such as Dior, Balenciaga, Givenchy and Charles James) before fashion lost its mind (read: Lady Gaga).
Fashion has regained its sanity.
MATERIALS: Fabrics run the gamut, but the usual suspects are velvet, leather, lace (and crochet lace), jersey, suede, brocade, tweed and lots of fur (on shoulders, collars, linings, hoods, shoes and handbags). How is it done?
Many designers executed an unusual cut-and-paste approach. Max Azria's crepe coat dress had leather sleeves. A Marc Jacobs coat was loaded with bronze sequins on the front, including the sleeves, but sans the glitter on back. Georges Chakra's cocktail and evening gowns combined chiffon with duchess satin, the latter made to look like leather. Peter Som patched Persian lamb fleece onto brocade.
