« We’re back ! » Installed on a fluffy sofa, in the premises of his brand on Madison Avenue, Tommy Hilfiger decrees that New York fashion is back. “The parades are numerous, the people in the street are enthusiastic. We American designers have tended to show overseas in recent years: it was time we went home. » On the fashion map, New York was indeed on the wing, declining slowly, its creators preferring Paris, London, even Los Angeles.
Not to mention the pandemic that has petrified everything… Now, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the organizing federation of New York fashion week, which was held from September 9 to 14, wants to get the machine going again, inviting journalists and influencers to discover the eclectic proposals of its designers. Commercial bets, scintillating and which make a clear place for the cult of celebrity.
Tom Ford’s return to New York was expected. The brand of the Texan designer, whose analysts expect the probable takeover by the cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, understood that the 2000s were again in vogue. He therefore enjoys reviving his own “porn chic” vocabulary. His models have all the paraphernalia: the smoky eye, the crimped hair, the slenderness accompanying crystal cowgirl jackets, leather microshorts, slit skirts worn very low on the hips, animal prints (leopard , zebra, crocodile), sequinned sheaths, ten centimeter heels and lace lingerie (including for men). A recycling that is as eye-catching as it is effective.
Tory Burch plunges back into the 1990s, the time of her installation in New York. Defender of uncomplicated refinement, she paints the portrait of an active woman, between the vernissage, the pilates class and the job interview. The almond green coat slips over the leggings. Then unscrupulously layered tops with peplums, bohemian fabrics with mirror or Indian silk, vaporous skirts, seller’s accessories and Calder’s mobile jewelry. The wardrobe of a woman moving forward.
Find vigor: the ambition is the same for several heavyweights. Michael Kors and Coach, two brands that are a hit with their bags, need ready-to-wear to gain nobility and impact. The first gives it a try with a parade with Hispanic influences, with fringed outfits drowned in red, sandals mixed with olé olé openwork dresses. A program wisely executed, against a backdrop of The beautiful island on acoustic guitar. “I’ve spent the past six months traveling: France, Italy, UK, Chicago, South Pacificlists Kors. Now, with the warming, people wear tap shoes in London and dress up in Majorca or Capri. The city and the beach have never been so merged. »
Stay “young and relevant”
By having all of his models (including rapper Lil Nas X) don plastic Medusa shoes, Coach’s Stuart Vevers doesn’t seem to contradict his eldest. But he struggles to wow his audience with his grunge-influenced wardrobe, made of worn mesh, vintage-looking saddlebags, fishermen’s sweaters made from recovered materials or patchwork coats.
“I have to stay young, relevant and, for that, to surround myself with people who are”, assumes Tommy Hilfiger. For his parade in the downpour with an army of celebrities (John Legend, Kris Jenner…), the septuagenarian revisits his classics, from the rugby polo shirt to the cardigan. With a supplement: a collaboration with the British designer Richard Quinn, whose universe mixes British kitsch and sadomasochistic pleasures – “the future Alexander McQueen”gets carried away Hilfiger. “I don’t usually like floral prints, but Richard’s, in down jackets or pants, has a pop art dimension. »
At Carolina Herrera, Wes Gordon also explores plants, inspired by “most elegant of planters”Bunny Mellon (1910-2014). “I have always been fascinated by his way of bringing together the practical and the grandiose, of juxtaposing garden furniture with a Rothko. In this spirit, I tried to work the cotton but by making it ennoble by our workshops of drapes, and patterns in the shape of roses », he explains. Held in the ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, this very Upper East Side escape unfolds to a soundtrack by the stainless Dolly Parton.
“I always draw for an independent New York woman, who is looking for herself, but I added a poisonous touch to it”, Catherine Holstein (Khaite)
It is a completely different America that Catherine Holstein explores, at Khaite, that “West: Las Vegas, Arizona, New Mexico. I always draw for an independent New York woman, who is looking for herself, but this time I added a poisonous touch to it”she says, citing the films Lost Highway or Pulp Fiction for influences. Her impeccable black and white wardrobe is enriched with fringes à la Showgirlscrystals, snakeskin print or vinyl bags.
Holstein is one of those American designers of minimalist ancestry who seem, this season, to have given themselves a watchword: sensuality! Thus, from the Proenza Schouler duo with their lace tunics and dresses devoured with crochet on the chest, or from Gabriela Hearst, who takes over a disused studio in Brooklyn. Strolling around a gospel choir, his models wear beautiful flared suits and hedonistic knit dresses, enhanced with a few less convincing surrealist audacity, rigid bronze corsets or accordion bags.
But, in this niche, Peter Do remains the most inspired. In a tower with an unobstructed view of lower Manhattan, he evolves a cast – including Korean stars, thanks to a partnership with the powerful talent agency SM Entertainment – with glittery eyebrows. Black sultan trousers open along the leg, corseted suit with a bare back, translucent white jumpsuit, luminous silk linings that escape from midnight blue coats, muslin pleats and melancholic gradations… Do, which evokes the death of his father, opens the mourning uniform as if to let the light filter through. “Now I want to learn to enjoy the present more”he said after the show, falling, moved, into his mother’s arms.
