Rachel Roy reimagined the easy elegance of the 1992 film "The Lover," set in steamy, 1929 French Indochina. She wondered, with the sound turned down, how the teen lover would have looked in the summer suits of her wealthy paramour.
"I wanted the look to be loose but not sloppy," she said. "Something felt classy about how he put himself together but it was never too buttoned up."
She offered pajama pieces, like the Olsen twins at The Row, and loose trousers as many designers did this time around. Roy also offered cascading skirts that looked as if the fabric was wrapped around the body and pinned ever so lightly at the waist.
Fashion Week moves to London, then Milan and Paris when it wraps up in New York on Thursday.
CAROLINA HERRERA
Herrera, who seems to never have a wrinkle in her skirt, not a hair out of place, has a playful side, too.
A shirtdress got oversized pockets and a delicate red cocktail dress was made of seersucker silk.
It's not Herrera's way to make things too fussy, even when there's a lot going on. A black-and-blue gown was as soft and pretty as you'd expect from the designer, even though it was covered in sharp-edge embroidery.
Making things look simple can be one of the hardest things to do, she said.
RACHEL ROY
There's something romantic about women in men's clothes. Even more so with an unexpected feminine touch.
That's what Roy set out to do. Tailored menswear styles ooze power, she said, and she likes that. For evening, there was a sculptural, folded gown with an open neckline in a floral print that was feminine without being prissy.
Roy's life as a working mother requires work clothes, weekend wear and black-tie gowns. She tries to offer all of that to her customer.
"In doing so I really want the woman to feel comfortable," she said. "If you're not comfortable, you're not confident, and if you're not confident, you're not looking powerful and smart, and, ultimately I want to look powerful and smart."
RACHEL ZOE
A little Brigitte Bardot. A little St. Tropez. A little easy chic. It all adds up to "a lot of "effortless glamour," according to Rachel Zoe.
The red carpet stylist-turned-designer said she'd like to dress the woman "who wants to stand with the attitude of `I'm chill.' `I'm relaxed,'"
Zoe herself wore a long black maxi dress that's part of her line. There was a similar black mousseline ribbon dress with cascading strips at the hemline.
Other looks include a men's style, white-canvas pantsuit with a yellow tie-collar blouse, a halter-neck, all-beaded shift dress and an off-the-shoulder long dress in a Matisse-inspired floral print in black, yellow and white that she styled with a floppy hat.
DONNA KARAN
To a soundtrack of tribal drums, Karan turned out clothes inspired by her trips to Haiti working on earthquake relief.
Many of the dresses were form-fitting patchworks of canvas, linen, jersey and stretch silk. They were sexy without being flashy. The palette was grounded in earthy browns and the collection adorned with wood and gold-stud embellishments.
It was the full, swirl-skirt silhouette, however, that really grabbed the retailers and editors attention.
Wyclef Jean sat in the front row, adding to the authenticity of the Haitian journey.
THOM BROWNE
Browne presented his collection in the hallowed halls of the New York Public Library. But this was no study hall.
One model was in long feathery garb, locked in a bird cage. Another, on a couch, wore a shimmery sequined mermaid gown
-- with fins. Two women in bathing caps and long gray and white skirts. Another was perched high atop a lifeguard chair.
The audience whispered its confusion. Was this all there was? Then a hostess came in to start the party. She cranked up an old phonograph. Cole Porter tunes filled the room.
The clothes had both a '20s flapper feel and a futuristic accent. Browne likes jackets, and here he played with shoulders, exaggerating them so they looked at times like stylish space suits. He also played with lengths. A trouser would begin at mid-thigh. Or a schoolgirl plaid skirt with suspenders would begin below the knees, the derriere covered by something completely unrelated.
