Fashion Friday

Lying on my sofa thinking about New York Fashion Week coming to an end and I have nothing new to wear. Not even a cupcake will tempt me out of the fashion doldrums. (Project Runway being so unwatchable this season, I stopped a couple of weeks ago and haven't gone back. The adorable Tim Gunn not withstanding.) So many choices, so many decisions. It's too exhausting. You know when you have so much to do you wind up doing nothing?

But from a prone position, I can still express my opinions - heck, I can always do that.

Here's my (somewhat fanciful) basis for my critiques: Before any of the Fashion Week shows, I imagine myself a Hollywood Young Thing looking to shop for the new season and possibly pick out my Red Carpet Ta-Da! dress. As I go along, I say to myself: yeah, I'll buy that (my budget is HUGE, unlimited in fact and of course, I have the sylph-like body), I'll wear it in Cannes or Paris or wherever. Or I say: NO! what a horror! Next!
I told you I was fanciful. Ha!

I've only seen a few of the shows in photos this year. But each year it's the same: I can't help but fall under the spell of Ralph Lauren . I know I'm not daring in my choice and some would even call it too comfortable, but I don't care. Ralph is king in my universe. He has some design staples he always relies on, but that doesn't bother me in the slightest. (In truth, lots of designers do that, most not so successfully.) I like his make-believe world. Here's a man who completely re-invented himself and his life and turned it into the sort of thing anyone might envy. He created a design brand based on his innate taste and style and, I think, the sort of life he would have naturally liked to have led in a different time and place. The Ralph Lauren style is recognizable anywhere. Not a bad thing at all. I do love it.

I liked Michael Kors collection, his soft colors: stone, ivory, gray, etc. were wonderful. Not crazy about the yellows though, but the greens were perfect. He has an eye for a good green. One complaint: Some of his models looked anorexic (aren't women's legs supposed to have a shape?) and that's not a good look, sorry, Michael. Still, the clothes were wonderful, chic, casual and breezy. Nothing seemed to be trying too hard. Likeable clothes if you have the body for them. Some of the looser styles could be worn by someone with a more average shape. On the whole, I'd say: terrific.

Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein did a gorgeous and very classic collection, I thought. Simple modern shapes, laid back colors, everything in keeping with the Klein concept. The long dresses looked a little too casual to call them 'gowns' but, they were moody and lovely anyway - my favorite things in the show.

I liked the Cynthia Rowley show. The circle cut-outs were fun. I'm liking all these roomy shapes I'm seeing. And I'm loving socks with sandals. Saw that all over.
(My daughter says only old people wear socks and sandals. Obviously, she has been proven wrong.)

Why can't the more inexpensive clothes have these subtle yummy colors too?

Naeem Khan is one of First Lady Michelle Obama's design choices and this show had a few gowns that would look great on her. Khan used my least favorite color, yellow, in a way I actually liked.

The Donna Karan show didn't 'wow' me at first, but then I began to like what she did. The early 'rumpled' stuff was not something you can really wear unless you're six feet tall and weigh 100 pounds, or so I'm thinking. The models looked a little awkward at first. But I liked the usual Donna Karan colors. I always do. There's always something special about her shows.
Her DKNY line was delightful. Most especially the print dresses and bathing suits. There was also a flirty, layered ruffle mini-skirt that I'd wear if I were twenty again and still had good legs.
A very fun thing to have in the closet. I might wear it with a blazer.

Okay, one last show to comment on: Diane Von Furstenberg. I loved the prints and the color combos. Lots of sprightly, interesting ways to put things together. I thought it was terrific. Sometimes in the past I haven't been too fond of her print choices, but this year I thought they worked fine.

An editorial: Fashion is, in many ways, an art form. Put aside the snarky comments and the Fashion Police atmosphere and what's left? The clothes and a designer biting his or her nails in the wings. When you put on an item of clothing, you are making a statement about yourself (it can't be helped), you are creating a little play, a story for the world to interpret. So in a way, you and the designer are collaborating. We're all entitled to comment on the fashion designs put before us since, in one way or another, they will be influencing what we choose to wear at some point down the line. And we all gotta' wear clothes - right? Well, most of the time.