Vodka, Mariachis, Hot Pink Woo Shopper at New York Fashion Week
Fur
Helen Yarmak International via Bloomberg
A model wears a Barguzine sable poncho with oversized pockets designed by Helen Yarmak. The fur sold for 350,000 euros.
A model wears a Barguzine sable poncho with oversized pockets designed by Helen Yarmak. The fur sold for 350,000 euros. Source: Helen Yarmak International via Bloomberg
Bibhu Mohapatra ensemble
Katya Kazakina/Bloomberg
A modeal wears an ensemble from Bibhu Mohapatra's Spring/Summer 2012 collection.
A modeal wears an ensemble from Bibhu Mohapatra's Spring/Summer 2012 collection. Photographer: Katya Kazakina/Bloomberg
Mohapatra's studio
Katya Kazakina/Bloomberg
Arresting images by German photographer Helmut Newton cover a wall of Bibhu Mohapatra's studio in New York. They influenced the designer's Spring/Summer 2012 collection that will be presented at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on Sept. 13.
Arresting images by German photographer Helmut Newton cover a wall of Bibhu Mohapatra's studio in New York. They influenced the designer's Spring/Summer 2012 collection that will be presented at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on Sept. 13. Photographer: Katya Kazakina/Bloomberg
Tote bag
Nicole Miller via Bloomberg
A limited edition tote bag designed by Nicole Miller and priced at $60 will be offered at her Fashion Night Out event.
A limited edition tote bag designed by Nicole Miller and priced at $60 will be offered at her Fashion Night Out event. Source: Nicole Miller via Bloomberg
After an earthquake and a hurricane, New York Fashion Week wants to change the subject.
“Everyone is talking about patterns and prints, new takes on dots, stripes and florals,” said Ken Downing, the fashion director of Neiman Marcus. “A new animal on the scene will be zebra.”
And the preferred hue for a nation swimming in red ink?
“The designers I’ve spoken to highlighted the importance of color in their collections, led by shocking, hot pink,” Downing said.
About 300 designers will show spring/summer collections at citywide venues from Sept. 8 to Sept. 15. The weak economy again is a major challenge. U.S. apparel sales grew just 1.1 percent to $193 billion for the 12 months through July 2011, according to market researcher NPD Group Inc., Port Washington, New York.
“Designers must bring the excitement and passion back,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD. “The industry has become so risk averse; they have bored the consumer to death.”
The main event, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, has 98 designers from China to Guatemala trotting out their zebras and florals in tents at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park. Fashion veterans Diane von Furstenberg and Ralph Lauren will be joined by newbies with understated lines like Pink Tartan and Electric Feathers.
“The thing that designers have to do is know who their customers are and inspire them,” said Fern Mallis, fashion industry consultant.
Free Booze
Or befuddle them. Free booze and unavoidable DJs are among the come-ons when more than 1,000 stores stay open until 11 p.m. on Sept. 8 for Fashion Night Out.
Absolut Vodka will sponsor an event at Nicole Miller, which will donate 15 percent of the night’s proceeds to Indego Africa. The fair-trade organization works with woman artisans in Rwanda.
Luxury designer Helen Yarmak, whose furs appeared in “The Devil Wears Prada,” will offer fox and sable along with animal- skin vests and ponchos in lime green, ruby red and midnight blue.
The ponchos might work well at Oscar de la Renta’s Madison Avenue boutique, which will feature live mariachi music.
Designer Bibhu Mohapatra said he drew inspiration from the dominance-submission message in some of Alexander McQueen’s creations. The late designer’s exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this year drew 661,509 visitors.
Helmut Newton
At Mohapatra’s Manhattan studio a wall was speckled with arresting imagery by photographer Helmut Newton. Vixens in minimal garb and provocative poses alluded to hard-core bondage. Mohapatra attached cut-out words, including “passion,” “sensual” and “empowering,” among the images to highlight the feelings he wanted to convey with his new collection of clashing sheer tulle and solid black grids.
The cost of empowerment ranges from $700 to $8,000 at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
“The consumer is definitely aware of the economic environment,” Mohapatra said. “She looks at clothes as an investment. It has to be special enough to commit to at that price point.”
Yara Flinn, who designs for Nomia and is showing for the first time at the Lincoln Center tents, appreciated McQueen’s boldness. “As a designer you have to push yourself and not just please the stores,” she said
For her debut, she pushed herself away from the subdued colors she typically favors and into a palette inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s Southwest, rich in red, blue and ochre. Her neutral this time will be white.
“For the first time, there’s no black,” she said, no accounting pun intended.
(Katya Kazakina is a reporter for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the reporter of this story: Katya Kazakina in New York at kkazakina@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
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