New York Fashion Week came and went, leaving us in total awe of what’s to come for Spring/Summer’16 and ready to disregard the season we’re currently stuck in.
And, while all the designers gave it their best shot and set trends aplenty, some shows happened to have us a little more hooked than others…
Here’s our edit of the best collections to have hit the catwalk at NYFW.
1. Creatures of the Wind
Co-designers Christopher Peters and Shane Gabier sent models down the ramp in NY clad in all their favourite things; Levis, tea dresses, motorcycle jackets, slip dresses and suiting that looks to have come straight out of the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s and the ’70s – a mixture of decades the brand brought together with ease.
Despite the throwbacks, there were of-the-moment details to upgrade the getup to today’s tastes: patch workings of print, cold-shoulder cutouts and the odd bit of on-trend fringing.
Speaking to Vogue, the designers said of the range;
“It’s where we are and that’s where we’re going…”
– leaving us at SPICE ready to go back to the future with them.
2. Yigal Azrouel
Following his Spring/Summer’16 showcase, Yigal Azrouel said;
“It’s about going from step to step and showing that progression…”
– and with a range made of decadent dresses that saw beautifully-printed sheers alongside dramatic black lace and crochet, Team SPICE is dying to step our wardrobe in a similar direction.
Favourite pieces include the black, crochet pinafore jumpsuit and a sheer dress scattered with a bouquet of floral embroidery, but with each piece that walked the ramp showing a sophistication that’ll up anyone’s current wardrobe game, we’d happily select anything from Mr Azrouel’s collection and run with it, wherever it is we’re headed.
3. Tome
Inspired by artist Fiona Hall, designers Ramon Martin and Ryan Lobo took Tome’s style signatures (stripes, deconstructed trenchcoats and shirting) to new heights to be had by all for next season.
With a palette of beige, black and white beautifully disturbed by a few pinks, blues and yellow, the collection caught our attention with its asymmetrical details and play with ruffles, which came flouncing down the side of a lapel here, a skirt there but always to playful effect.
Probably best served up at important events or evenings accompanied by cocktails, this is the collection to make a statement in – especially if you’re the sort of girl who likes her androgyny anchored by one contrastingly femme detail.
4. Coach
Coach kept us guessing that the ’70s would still be a thing come Spring/Summer, when we might trade in our shaggy furs and thin neckties for suede bikers and tie-up chokers.
The look, in Coach’s case, is about “confidence” – which will be much-needed if you’re to even think about wearing all that floral print together with animal-skin booties – and inspired by “a magpie girl who goes on road trips, picking up Western things, but also might steal from her granny’s closet on the Upper East Side.”
Micro-florals were quilted together on light dresses with ruffled hems, and leathers were also patch-worked – sometimes in a more Autumnal palette, meaning there’s hope for your Fall favourites to remain with you past February.
All in all, it’s a folksy take on rock’n’roll to rally over next season – a look we’re certain to see replicated on the hughstreet, too.
5. Custo Barcelona
Designer Custo Dalmau was inspired by food and “a culinary movement that rejects the standardization of taste,” plus the desire to go against the grain of ‘fast fashion.’
The result saw his signature mini prints and eye-trapping textures forming through painstakingly detailed pieces that met mixed reviews – Vogue saying the designer may’ve benefitted from a streamlining of details.
But while Team SPICE note there was a lot to take in – colour, doily-style lace, sheers, cutouts and clashing prints – we love the way it formed to show how fun fashion can be for the eye, with ours dancing all over the range and stuck for choice of which piece we love most.
6. Lacoste
Themed on flags, Portuguese designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista continues to shake up sports-obsessed label Lacoste, with a collection fit for fashionable Olympians – or stylish mere mortals who will deserve a medal for making their way through Spring/Summer’16 with any of these items in their wardrobe.
There were suits, ponchos, jackets, shorts and shirts formed of flags from all over the globe, seen chopped, stitched and reworked into the lineup that, according to the designer, spoke of “peace and diversity.”
Team SPICE love the reworked polo details throughout and the way the new Lacoste dips from Mod to utilitarian throughout its new collection.
7. Dennis Basso
Dennis Basso was channelling youth in his Spring/Summer’16 collection, with muses Sofia Vergara and Selina Gomez in mind too, telling Vogue;
“The whole look this year, it appeals to a younger woman. It’s very youthful and vibrant… [and] for the hip, international woman.”
Pieces of note include those with fluffed boleros in bold hues, and the thick, skin-showing Spanish lace that covered dresses and coats destined to help one make an entrance in – items we at SPICE are sure the aforementioned stars would happily hit the red carpet with when the time calls next season.
8. Jeremy Scott
Inspired by ’60s sci-fi films and accessoried by models with faces beat better than Barbie’s, Jeremy Scott’s Spring/Summer’16 collection came out ray-guns blazing, with bold colour and a big laugh in the face of ‘serious’ fashion.
Because, as usual, Mr Scott has had fun with his label, likening his designs to cool cartoon doodles that the big kid inside us all should be dying to wear – this season showing us that there’s a colour and a print out there for everyone, whether it be a blue and sequinned stripe, a classic monochrome polka dot or even a multihued TV print.
With wit added via beefy bouffants, retro, plastic earrings and a strong lip, there’s a lot to play dress up with in Jeremy Scott’s version of Spring but we at SPICE will look forward to seeing who pulls it off best, off the runway next season.
9. Tracey Reese
There’s a lot to be said about Tracy Reese’s newest offering, since it came with a lot to offer fashion-forward females heading into Spring.
There were embellishes of the sequinned variety, a studded coat in yellow we won’t be forgetting anytime soon, plus all sorts of sheer layers of varying transparencies we’d like to try out next season – but all the while with a real sense of the label and its lingering love of eras bygone, seen again in tea dress shapes and preppy, popped collars, and booties that seem to have swung right out of the ’60s.
Our especial faves include the printed tunic dress and all that promised a peek-a-boo look at the triangle bras we’ll all be wearing when the weather’s warm enough again – like Ms Reese has taken her style staples from the past and brought them right up to speed with the foresight to know where we plan to show them off: in the hottest places in town.
10. Marc Jacobs
Set in New York’s Zeigfeld theatre, the “Marc Jacobs: One Night Only!” extravaganza hit New York Fashion Week with a bang, filling the venue with red, white and blue, as well as stripes and stars.
Stars came in the shape of South Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek, who took to the ramp (after stomping its adjacent red carpet and posing on the step and repeat) in a cherub-embellised ensemble, Uganda’s rising star Aamito Lagum, plus singer Beth Ditto, who has long been a muse for Mr Jacobs. Another star – or rather, icon – manifested in print, with the designer channelling Andy Warhol with a screen print reminiscent of the artist’s Marilyn Monroe silkscreens.
Stripes came literally inside the collection, where pinstripes of black and blue, and red and black were presented along with plaid and the moniker of all things Americana – the nation’s flag, seen made into a tight-fitting top and again on a fringed jacket.
Whether you too love The States, or Marc Jacobs or fashion in general, it’s difficult not to throw up a salute to this Spring/Summer collection or want to keep a piece of it for your self for next season.
But did you have your own favourites from the ramp at last week’s shows? Tell us your top New York Fashion Week collections in the comments box below or online @SPICETVAFRICA.
Image source: Vogue.com
