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New York Fashion week DKNY gets ‘Neo SoHo’ makeover

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Zac Posen featured girly garden party billowy designs with a dose of glass beads here and there.

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Tory Burch showcased batik and moccasins for a West Coast vibe.

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DKNY’s Spring 2017 collection.

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Sheer skirts from Vera Wang.

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A purse from Thom Browne.

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DKNY’s new design team of Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow debuted its “Neo SoHo” collection.

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Vera Wang’s bare-shoulder stylings.

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Thom Browne’s collection included models dressed as disco dogs.

After taking over Donna Karan’s iconic New York-centric DKNY, designers Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow of Public School have broken through her legacy with a bold street collection that screamed them and not her, shown on the elevated High Line park on the city’s first crisp evening of fall.

Itroducing the collection “Neo SoHo” during New York Fashion Week, the duo turned the DKNY logo on its ear by hanging fringe all over its letters, with the message on some pieces: “New York is the new New York.”

Osborne and Chow founded their own label in 2008, taking on DKNY the first time for last year’s spring collection soon after they were hired by LVMH, which bought DKNY in 2001.

Chow, for a little context, is the older of the two designers and was 11 when Karan launched her Seven Easy Pieces.

So how did they put their own stamp on the beloved label? They used transparencies to free themselves up, along with caution signal orange, little bandeau and bra tops, mesh, bike shorts and hoods, hoods, hoods in a finale that had the models — led by Bella Hadid — stomping down the center of the park created out of an old elevated rail line.

Forget the past.

Said the designers in their notes: “We like to think about what’s next.”

Here is more of what was shown during New York Fashion Week, that ended Wednesday.

Vera Wang

Vera Wang brought a dark, brooding, almost eerie atmosphere to her runway show, with exaggerated proportions like sleeves that extended past the fingers and dangled toward the legs.

Wang famously loves black, and all of her garments were in black or white — but mostly black. And they were unusual: Besides the over-long sleeves — “almost like a glove,” she described them — there were a number of structured jackets that had no shoulders.

Wang said the three main concepts she was going for were power, craft and “mystery — dark, dark, mysterious.” And also sexy, she added, surely referring to the long filmy skirts that were so sheer, they left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

Tory Burch

It was in the whimsical and colorful moccasins, and in the batik prints and beachy dresses. Tory Burch was definitely bringing a little West Coast spirit to her usual East Coast chic.

But first, Burch’s runway show—in the chic setting of the Whitney Museum of American Art—began with some classic East Coast “hostess prep,” as the designer calls it.

There was lots of kelly green and pink — as in the opening number, a pink-trimmed green cardigan with a garden-print blouse and long cotton skirt, or in a tweed checked pantsuit with a garden-print top.

There was also a preppy boating theme, in outfits like a short navy jacked paired with “Marina-print” burlap pants emblazoned with sailboats. Or a sweater covered with the word “Ahoy.”

From the Connecticut yacht club to the beach towns of the California coast: Burch brought out caftans, batik prints, board shorts, macrame and those moccasins—some colored and with heels.

Thom Browne

The room buzzes with anticipation every time Thom Browne puts on a fashion show. What will fashion’s ultimate showman come up with this time?

On Monday afternoon, the crowd entered Browne’s Chelsea gallery venue to find a brightly tiled and multi-hued space — not unlike a swimming pool, but with the water drained out. Hmm. Was this a bathing suit display?

Suddenly a gaggle of models came out in brightly colored floral cover-ups and old-fashioned, pouffy bathing caps, carrying large totes — as if out for a day at the pool. They were guided around the space by four birds — two parrots and two seagulls, to be exact — and four cats, all male models with animal heads. (It’s a tribute to Browne’s menswear know-how that he can make a man look hip even wearing a cat head.)

Watching over the proceedings was a figure that can only be described as a disco dog goddess. Yes, a disco dog goddess. She was dressed in shimmering silver, with a dog head on top that resembled a disco ball.

Browne later confirmed the obvious: This figure was a nod to his own beloved dog, Hector.

Zac Posen

Rounding shoulders and draping backs, the sometime “Project Runway All Stars” judge put out a spring collection worthy of any fancy garden party.

His vibrant hues of red, pink, green and yellow came in edgier prints and more technical fabrics, with a bit of transparency here and a dose of glass beads there.

Some of Posen’s pleating billowed on his thin models, lending bulk and exaggerating areas of the body more average-size women may prefer to leave alone, the derriere among them.

But who doesn’t need a go-to glitter pink paisley tulle gown?

On other Zac fronts, he’s about halfway through his first cookbook, having gained a home cook rep among fans on Instagram after years of posting his culinary accomplishments. The title matches his favorite hashtag: “Cooking with Zac,” and he grows a lot of his own ingredients.

A variety of cuisines will be included, “from rustic to refined,” Posen said.

Alexander Wang

The designer is, by his own description, a total sneakerhead. He once even designed a whole clothing collection around them, with dresses, tops and handbags emulating his favorite sneaks, like the classic white-and-green Adidas Stan Smith.

Now, Wang has taken his sneaker love to a new level, partnering with Adidas for a line of apparel and footwear that seeks, in his words, to “disrupt” the famous Adidas look while still preserving its familiarity. One example: rotating the well-known trefoil logo upside down. Another: “deconstructing” the Adidas sneaker. Also, the entire collection is unisex: Pants, tops, shoes.

Wang, introduced the new line as a surprise finale to his New York Fashion Week runway show that included a teaser film and then an army of models marching down the runway in the new clothing line—all in black. Wang said the key challenge was to change up the Adidas look so it feels fresh—but not to the point that it’s unrecognizable.

“It was really about saying, how do we take something and shake it up a little, disrupt it, but at the same time not change it so much where it doesn’t feel right,” Wang said in an interview this week.

The 32-year-old designer is recognized as one of the most talented and busiest of his generation. He launched his own, eponymous label 11 years ago, at age 21. Last year, he ended a prestigious three-year stint as creative director at Balenciaga, a job that had him splitting his time between Paris and New York. Since then, he’s been back full time at his own label, where he focuses heavily on streetwear, and is a favorite of the celebrity set.

2 responses to “New York Fashion week DKNY gets ‘Neo SoHo’ makeover”

  1. manakuke says:

    Lights, camera, action.

  2. justmyview371 says:

    Those guys have destroyed the Donna Karan brand.

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