Heavy hitters Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren will both be offering beautifully tailored, colorful options next spring.
In celebration of Lauren's 40th anniversary in fashion, the icon of American fashion held his show Saturday evening in the heart of Central Park.
And it was amazing.
While I heard a lot of people were heard complaining the collection was too costumey, I think it was beautiful. Lauren took his signature tailored look and jazzed it up with everything from deep black and white stripes, to dots to poppies dancing along the hemlines. (I know we saw this at Milly years ago and saw it knocked off at everwhere from Charlotte Russe to Forever 21, but I digress...)
We were supposed to feel as if we were at a horse race during a warm summer afternoon. These are classic, high society clothes with a pizazz unseen in these parts. Jodpurs sparkled down the runway and body skimming dresses were accompanied with wide-brimmed hats.
The riding motif has been a thread of Lauren's collections for years. But instead of focusing on blacks, browns and earthtones, Ralph Lauren boldly and successfully mixed in prints in colors for an Americana goes to the disco kind of feel.
Michael Kors' shades of chartreuse, watermelon and sunshine created a Sunday morning featured collection, Kors described as "sleek with sunkissed glamour."
The Kors fan will continue to wear dresses next spring, but instead of the trench coat knee-length pieces he does so well, these frocks will have incredibly long hemlines.
Kors surprisingly focused on prints designing very few of his familiar safari-luxe pieces.
Like Lauren, Kors seemed to be inspired by the painters - his collection including hamd embroidered monet floral jersey shifs and Van Gogh floral jersey poncho dresses.
Kors created a beautiful, warm, tailored collection with major bursts of color. Still, at the end of the show, he walked the entire runway in his classic black jacket and jeans.
Gotta love it.
