Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Best of New York Fashion Week

Marc Jacobs FW11

by Grace Gordon

If the secretarial pool of Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce had fallen into a wormhole to the future, this is what they might end up wearing.

Simultaneously futuristic and vintage, Marc Jacobs takes traditional looks and plays with our preconceived notions of them by adding highly unusual textures like rubber, latex and plastic to the decorative process. If you noticed a heavy S&M influence on Marc Jacobs’ runway, you’ve got a good eye. For this collection, Jacobs worked with House of Harlot, a British fetish company that helped him put together his rubber and latex looks. These layered textures gave added dimension to the clothes.

Besides these unusual touches, Jacobs also resurrected some of his best looks from previous seasons. For instance, the ubiquitous polka dot patterns were a nod to his very first NYFW collection. The toppers he showed came either in a blunt cut shape, or in a reinvented New Look silhouette that emphasized big shoulders.

There were some fantastic looks to take away from this collection. A mauve lace cut-out dress met ruffled rubber jabot at the neck and came accessorized with sweet polka-dot print tights and odd rubber gloves and heels. A soft silk blouse contrasted beautifully with a latex pencil skirt. Short-sleeved peplum jackets in leaf print looked positively retro. From look to look, Jacobs flitted between a boxy menswear silhouette and a feminine hourglass silhouette. Even though this was a mature collection, there were still fun elements to be seen. The polka-dot vinyl berets by Stephen Jones looked like ladybugs. Even though the overall look of this collection was dark and severe, there was enough of Jacobs’ deft wit and masterful style in the mix to make this one of the best collections from New York Fashion Week.