Beaded bolero jackets and vests, tipped fedoras and splashes of scarlet and tomato red brought a distinctly Spanish and Latin American feel to Ralph Lauren’s collection that helped close New York Fashion Week on Thursday, along with Calvin Klein’s show.
Lauren turned his attention to bold baggy jodhpurs and suede pants, cascading ruffles, frills and jaunty berets accompanied by Spanish-style music. It was one of his first major outings since it was revealed that uniforms designed by his label for the US Olympic team were to be made in China. That touched off a political furor.
Celebrities attending the Spring 2013 collection included Olivia Wilde, Jessica Alba and Olympic gold-medal winning swimmer Ryan Lochte.
A model presents a creation from the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2013 collection during New York Fashion Week: Reuters
When the scandal broke, the US Olympic committee decided it was too late to change the outfits and Ralph Lauren Corp said in a statement it supported increasing US manufacturing.
On Thursday, the New York-born designer turned heads with a wrap-around, multi-colored striped serape draped over a black suede vest and white cotton shirt. Other looks featured tomato reds, greens and purples on poet-style blouses and evening dresses.
“The show was entertaining, upbeat, perfectly executed – and indelibly Ralph Lauren,” said The New York Times, although it complained that some of the overall effects of the Latin-inspired theme, including details of colored beads and striped bags, was at times cliche.
Calvin Klein women’s collection was the final major fashion house to show for the upcoming spring season, for which many designers have unveiled practical clothes designed to sell rather than bold stand-out looks.
Klein stuck with seductive whites and tans as well as the fashion house’s staple color, black, for coats and scoop-neck dresses, with the collection’s identifying design being a series of conical bustiers woven into dresses and jackets with plunging necklines.
“It’s very sultry. It’s very exotic. It’s very feminine and very luxurious,” Calvin Klein’s Creative Director Francisco Costa told Reuters in an interview.
The show also featured lace and satin off-the-shoulder and strapless dresses, sheer silk corsets, flared waist jackets and, in one of the most buzzed-about outfits, a see-through outer layer of black wave-like embroidery over a white dress.
Reuters
