Peter Foley/European Pressphoto AgencyBy CATHY HORYN
Just before the start of Ralph Lauren’s 40th anniversary show, as guests like Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and the actors Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman took their seats, there was music from “My Fair Lady.”
A tug of Broadway, and then the show began, the music shifting to a faster contemporary beat as the first model stepped out in a white silk gown with a frilly black-edged hem and a wide black straw hat. Masculine coats, satin jodhpurs, trim vests and long polka-dot skirts with romantic white blouses seemed to animate the racecourse painting in the background.
The show, on Saturday night in the Central Park Conservancy, was a vigorous display of Mr. Lauren’s imagination and wit, from the veiled bowlers and snow-white riding boots tipped in black to the long ruffled dresses in pastel garden prints, and the only location that might have better served his purposes than the park would have been Fifth Avenue itself. The clothes, while far from being costumes, had the pomp of an aristocratic parade.
Mr. Lauren could have gone in any number of design directions to mark his 40th anniversary. To Newport, the American West, the Adirondacks. Instead he chose New York, reflecting its energy and sophistication with crisp tailoring, a black leather coat banded in taxi-bright yellow, and a silver chain-beaded gown as cosmopolitan as the Chrysler building.
He could afford the schmaltz of Frank Sinatra’s “The Best Is Yet to Come,” as he came out to an ovation and personally greeted guests like Barbara Walters, Barry Diller, Martha Stewart and the designers Donna Karan, Vera Wang and Carolina Herrera.
How many other, younger designers will reach such a milestone? There has been a shift in perspective in the last few years as stores and magazines seemingly burn through new names in the business. The same is true of the music and film industries. The process inevitably anoints the superficial.
Designers like Benjamin Cho and Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte have their distinctive pool of admirers, but despite their best efforts — and in the case of Rodarte, the help of editors and fashion plates like Liz Goldwyn and Lisa Airan, who came to the show dressed in a fanciful Rodarte suit — the pool essentially remains the same. One has the impression that a lot of retailers have figured out how to sell the idea of new talent without actually having to commit to any one name for the long haul.
The most inventive looks in Mr. Cho’s collection included jersey tops that had been twisted around the neckline into rope coils, narrow jackets inspired by trench coats, and slim black silk dresses that incorporated into the bodice or neckline smooth, cross-sectioned stones that had been wired together.
As always, Mr. Cho’s clothes answer some design question that absorb him exclusively, and with perfect craftsmanship.
Ohne Titel, a new line by Alexa Adams and Flora Gill, who previously worked for Karl Lagerfeld, offered lanky pantsuits in neutral tones, bustled silk skirts and some fine, body-hugging knits in textured patterns that evoked tribal art.
Though still cloyingly precious, Rodarte looked less lunatic than usual. Some of the tulle and chiffon dresses, in cloudy shades of pink and blue, had a wispy effect, as if the Mulleavy sisters were attempting to give the clothes the lightest possible structure.
Shapes were engaging, notably a rounded jacket in ivory organza with wandlike sleeves and a coppery pleated skirt. I couldn’t make out if a slim dress and matching jacket in broken waves of blue, gold and beige were embroidered or knitted, but the outfit was beautiful, nearly evoking body art.
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez are widely acknowledged to be among the most promising of the new generation of brand-builders, blessed with talent and charm. On Friday, they took their Proenza Schouler collection to the Armory on Park Avenue, a good place to display military-precise tailoring and braid, fitted jackets in pieced sections of ivory and black linen ( the garments were shown inside out for better effect, the designers said), and two-toned pumps with chunky straps and nailed-studded heels.
On the demerit side, a detectable Balenciaga influence in the proportions and layers cast a degree of doubt over the designers’ ability to establish a clear brand identity.
But their use of fabrics like rough cotton was very appealing, and the mix of masculine elements like belted vests with poplin shirts and short flaring skirts in washed organza helped give them the primary silhouette for spring. So in that sense they were on the right track. And short dresses embroidered in matte-gold sequins and feathers (by the Paris house Lemarié) added to their sophisticated capital.
