Designers play peekaboo at NY Fashion Week

[September 13, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Now you see fashion, now you don't.

Illusion was one of the key trends to emerge as New York Fashion Week entered its fourth day Sunday, with sheer looks making a quiet statement.

< The Prabal Gurung spring 2011 collection is modeled Saturday during Fashion Week in New York. (AP photo by Stuart Ramson)

Strategic use of sheer fabric -- here on sleeves, there on a neckline, overlay or skirt -- gave the illusion of bareness without revealing too much. The look was naturally sexy, without being vulgar.

The light, airy feel of the clothes went with a generally optimistic feeling that has prevailed at the spring 2011 previews at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

CYNTHIA ROWLEY

In the rarified world of Lincoln Center, perhaps it's the equivalent of borrowing a cup of sugar: Designer Cynthia Rowley, to debut her spring fashion collection, asked the new neighbors at the New York City Ballet if she could borrow its backdrops for her show.

The ballet company obliged, so Rowley's lovely, polished clothes were presented with sets of "Swan Lake" and "Romeo and Juliet" standing tall behind the models.

The swing toward sophisticated styles is part of the evolution of fashion, Rowley said in an interview later Saturday.

The first look out was an otherwise simple taupe dress, but cutout dots like a Connect Four unit made it new and interesting. The same goes for all the transparent panels on sweaters and polos, and the colored pebblelike embellishment on shirts, shorts and a cocktail party-ready shift dress.

PRABAL GURUNG

Prabal Gurung is showing the growth and maturity of a designer who wants to stick around.

And the industry seems ready to support this Singapore-born, Nepal-raised young man for the long haul. Top-name retailers, editors and stylists, including Rachel Zoe and Ikram Goldman -- known to work with first lady Michelle Obama -- gave him hearty applause.

Gurung took a bit of a risk on his third-ever runway, starting with colorblocked cashmere knits. It was a statement worth making: Gurung wants to dress real women -- women of style, mind you, but not those obsessed with trends.

Styles included a slim-fitting white scuba sheath with blue satin inserts, or an ivory silk crepe version with asymmetrical tulle inserts. The sand-washed silk duchesse trench and its curved insets were the right modern twist for a venerable classic.

Z SPOKE ZAC POSEN

Zac Posen, clearly pleased with the runway show, pumped his arm in the air as he took his bow to mark his return to the main stage of New York Fashion Week.

Posen had been the toast of the town for several seasons, lining his front row with top-tier celebrities, staging elaborate musical performances and turning out photogenic, theatrical clothes -- clothes that very few people would have to occasion to wear, by the way.

He recently switched gears, doing more intimate shows of more practical daytime clothes away from the tents that are the hub of the seasonal previews. And then he announced that he was moving his collection catwalk to Paris.

Still, there was his contemporary Z Spoke collection to show, and he did his preview with the swagger that he had before.

Z Spoke doesn't have the craftsmanship or drama of his signature label, but the fruit salad-inspired styles -- really, T-shirts with apples and pineapples, among them -- were colorful, cheerful and trendy, and would look appealing on retailers' racks.

CHARLOTTE RONSON

Charlotte Ronson may have raided Courtney Love's closet -- the pre-makeover version.

Ronson showed some floral dresses with slouchy hoodies with models wearing beanie hats. For shoes, it was high heel booties, strappy heels and espadrilles with scrunched up socks.

Ronson said she was inspired by the "vibrant romance of Spain," so she used a lot of floral prints and Moorish-type embroidery, which she paired with the androgynous feel of grunge.

"It's definitely the grunge era. I grew up in that. That's when you are discovering your own sense of style and it meant a lot," she said. "That's kind of my style too."

It may be a style best left in the past for those beyond their teenage years. But one striking outfit was a black silk embroidered top with a matching long skirt with tiered ruffles.

[Associated Press; By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL]

AP writer Lisa Orkin Emmanuel contributed to this report.

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