We criss-crossed around town on Monday to take in two highly-anticipated shows for New York Fashion Week. While both collections delivered on visual impact, they were polar opposites in terms of styling, composition and audience.
The Thom Browne show for fall/winter 2010 was a carefully choreographed presentation that had guests seated in different sections of the Park Avenue Armory, which had been designed to resemble an old parlor or Victorian-era home. Antique wooden tables sat in the middle of each room, topped with burning candles and frosted cakes displayed on silver platters. The models strolled casually into the “rooms” and walked around the tables, some pausing to take a piece of cake or to re-arrange the table setting. Add in a weighty classical piece serving as the soundtrack, and a permanently dazed expression on the models’ faces, the show felt at times like watching smug ghosts wandering through the halls of a haunted house.
As for the clothes, Browne showed his signature ankle-barring trousers and shrunken-fit suits, but also introduced a slightly roomier aesthetic with long, chunky-knit cardigans, loosely draped vests and even some man-dresses (well, more like extra-long tunics or shirts, perhaps). The colors were typically muted, though Browne ventured outside his usual grey and added touches of navy, brown and red as well. As for the details, there was only one worth mentioning: raccoon tails that dangled off many of the jackets and even bunched into a long train on the finale outfit. It looked about as confusing as you’d imagine, though it seemed like Browne was ready to go out of the box this season, and he was determined to make a statement.
Canadian designer Rad Hourani, meantime, confused some fashion watchers with an all-black, goth-inspired collection that was eerily similar to what he showed last year. But Hourani admitted that he wasn’t starting from scratch, but rather continuing to explore and develop the raw, androgynous motif that has quickly become his signature.
The silhouette is symmetrical and lean, with straight skinny pants (some in patent leather and neoprene) and boxy, layered jackets. Some extensive zipper detailing and a few exaggerated collars and coattails might have been distracting if not for the designer’s deft touch — and the all-black palette. Instead of looking like castoffs from a Matrix sequel, the pieces were intricate and interesting and, surprisingly, something we could actually picture people wearing. And at the end of the day, regardless of whether you’re using raccoon tails or shiny zippers, if there’s an audience and customer for your pieces, you can pretty much get away with whatever you want to do.
