Rita Galkina
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Theo Ortengren
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Hannnah P
On the first clear-skied day in New York this week, Stella McCartney took advantage and hosted her Resort presentation in a sleepy garden on 20th Street in Chelsea. The affair was also McCartney’s spin on an English garden party and brought out the likes of Alec and Hilaria Baldwin, Chris Rock, and Lorne Michaels. Taking in the new collection, including the forthcoming Ultraboost x Parley shoe made from recycled ocean plastic materials, were Lauren Hutton and Lily Collins who were as entranced by the setup as Gabrielle Union and Ashley Benson. But all eyes were on the birds last night. Before guests shimmied with models clad in floral frocks, slick suiting, and everything in between, it was a few birds of paradise—a parrot and cockatoo in the mix—that were the most popular (and well-behaved) party animals who posed for selfies with guests. As the sun started to set, a performance from Ky-Mani Marley got others including Kenya Kinski-Jones, Mia Moretti, and Rachel Feinstein grooving into the evening.
Much wringing of hands has been done about releasing pre-collection images at fashion brands across New York and in Europe and beyond. Post the pictures when the collection is shown to stores months in advance of its arrival? Or when the clothes actually ship? Which experience is better for clients? The real question may be this: What does it matter when the brands in question are doing so much of their real interacting with customers via social media stars and their respective feeds? Take Alexander Wang, who very nearly broke Instagram, if not the Internet in general, when he dressed his Met Gala date, Bella “the body” Hadid, in a black lace catsuit. That skintight, shimmery feat of engineering isn’t actually part of Wang’s Pre-Fall 2017 lineup (which is posting on Vogue amid dozens of Resort 2018 collections, cue the hand-wringing), but it is very much of a sexy piece with its 23 mostly black looks. In fact, one of the body-con LBDs pictured here features a glittery mesh bodice and sleeves that looks nearly identical to Hadid’s—from the red carpet to reality. This collection hews to second-skin, studded lines that are familiar to Wang watchers from his Fall runway show. Which is why the pair of silk charmeuse evening dresses that close the lookbook are so compelling. Sure, they’re accented with that heavy-duty silver metal chain, but their languid, vaguely ’30s-ish silhouettes defy expectations of him, not just ours, but those of the Bella-stans, too.
It goes without saying that Thom Browne is known for his tailoring. What’s less often noted is the designer’s passion for fabrics—and as often as not, it’s his inspired choice of textiles that really makes his collections sing. This was a Browne collection in which the materials felt like the main story. It wasn’t just the splashy stuff, such as the confetti tweed woven out of cotton and denim and silk and jupe and tulle, or the spray-painted mink; simpler fabrications also came to the fore. Madras plaid was a big theme here, with Browne mixing and matching the classic preppy check in painterly ways. There were also solid-color madras cottons, salt-shrunk to give the material some heft and hand and sometimes decorated with bead embroidery. Some of Browne’s nicest pieces were his salt-shrunk cotton shift dresses—uncharacteristically simple in shape and uncharacteristically short—embellished with beads in the form of tennis rackets. It was the rare Resort season look that really did seem made to be worn at a resort. There was more where that came from. Although Browne’s broad range of grayscale tailored looks were nicely done, per usual, and the tweeds and plaids had a lot of pep, it was in his pursuit of the tennis theme that he best balanced his senses of nattiness and silliness. A long evening blouse of fine, racket-patterned lace? What better thing to wear to a reception at Wimbledon. Only his tennis whites–inspired ensembles could compete for that honor. Meanwhile, for ladies less eager to embrace soigné sportif looks, Browne had a few more classic evening options: His bustier dresses made for a nice counterpoint to both the athletic kit-inspired pieces and the androgynous sack jackets and tailored jumpsuits. They also marked a contrast with this outing’s dominant, strong-shoulder, waistless shapes. There was a little something for everyone, in other words—especially the tennis-obsessed.
Fans of China McClain who took a quick scroll through her Instagram this week may have found themselves doing a double take. The 18-year old burgeoning actress—who also happens to be the younger sister of Empire's Sierra McClain—posted a scene-stealing new look, showcasing a headful of voluminous curls that she paired with bold brows, minimal makeup, silver hoops, and a powerful message. "Haven't ever really worn my hair natural but I'm sick of straightening this magic. I'm a black girl and I'm hella proud," said the actress, adding that regardless of skin color, women should be proud, feel beautiful, and eschew society's expectations. McClain, who most often wears her hair straight or in soft, smoothed out waves, has been experimenting with a range of hairstyles of late, including box braids and a baby afro. Consider her new chin-length cloud of curls—and the confidence that comes with it—her most impactful beauty move yet.
Chloé is in between designers. Natacha Ramsay-Levi was installed not long after her predecessor Clare Waight Keller’s last show, but her debut is scheduled for September. The brand must go on—judging by the bustling showroom set up at Milk Studios today, the changing of the guard has not quashed retail interest in Chloé—so the task of designing the Resort collection fell to the design studio. This lineup touched on many familiar Chloé-isms and included a surprise or two. First, the familiar. Nothing says Chloé like a bohemian dress. Among those on offer here, the block-printed version was the standout. Ponchos came crocheted and loomed, and the navy-and-white blanket coat looked great. Tailoring came to the fore during Waight Keller’s tenure, and it had a loosely naval look here, thanks to the buttons marching up cropped jackets. As for the surprises, it’s rare to see a logo on the runway at this label’s Paris show, but considering they’ve become all but de rigueur in the last year, the Chloé logo was splayed across the shoulders of a blouson turtleneck paired athleisure-style with knit sweatpants. The placement of the upside-down “h” saved it from banality. All in all, this will keep Chloé humming along just fine until the Ramsay-Levi era begins.
Optimism and prettiness have long numbered among Carolina Herrera’s signatures, but she’s done a particularly good job evoking them with her new Resort collection—at a time when we (fashion, America, the world) have never needed them more. Herrera said she looked to the gardens at her home in her native Venezuela for her flower motifs, and the exuberant colors she pulled from them for other pieces. What was noteworthy about her palette this season was its mix-and-match freedom. A breezily terrific gown in pink and blue striped technical taffeta was finished with a cherry red sash belt, and she combined unexpected hues just as nimbly elsewhere. That newfound playfulness carried over into some of Herrera’s silhouettes. Buoyant floor-length skirts in mimosa floral prints were paired with snug ribbed-knit tanks for a fresh, youthful look. A black and white stripe fit-and-flare dress made from a technical knit had a similarly vivacious spirit in a more all-ages shape. Flowers and color played a smaller role in the more casual part of Herrera’s Resort story. In this category, the standout material was a lightweight striped denim that she cut into an A-line skirt, a sleeveless tunic worn belted (as many of the looks for day and night were here), and skinny flares. Best of all was the sleeveless dress with contrast stitching, white buttons, and deep pockets.
Gigi Hadid has been undergoing a slow and steady shift from golden blonde bombshell to auburn wonder, and it seems the slightly-moodier hue brings with it an excuse to ditch blowouts, defined waves, and suspended ponies for something a bit more, well, grunge. Case in point: rock 'n' roll-inspired styling from her head down to her washed out jeans. The model was spotted last night with her brown-blond lengths woven into a duo of undone, unbound braids that she then topped with a black bandana. The age old accessory acted as an on-the-nose reference to an Appetite for Destruction-era Axl Rose, afforded with an appeal that was distinctly Hadid thanks to the addition of cat eye sunglasses plucked straight from the '90s, a seemingly influential era for both Hadid sisters as of late. And about those loose-hanging plaits? An easy ode to Willie Nelson's devil-may-care signatures, no doubt. Between mussed shags, bohemian bangs, controlled slick-backs, and infinite on-skin adornments, should Hadid take a true rock-driven deep dive, she'll soon have a fresh crop of looks to work from.
Raf Simons has made fashion history yet again. The Belgium-born designer at the helm of Calvin Klein won both the Menswear Designer of the Year and Womenswear Designer of the Year Award at the 2017 CFDA Awards tonight for his Fall 2017 Calvin Klein collection. The victories are Simons’s first Calvin-related CFDA Award wins—he previously received the 2014 International Award for his work at Dior. They cement his place as one of the strongest forces in American fashion today, especially considering the ballot requests CFDA voters to choose a winner based on two seasons. What’s more, Simons’s big win is only the second time in the history of the CFDA Awards that the same designer has won both the menswear and womenswear prizes in the same year. The other designer to do it? None other than Calvin Klein himself, who took home both statues in 1993. In the history of the ceremony, six other designers have won both prizes throughout their careers, adding Simons to a list populated solely by American fashion legends. Donna Karan was the first designer to win both prizes, taking home the women’s statue in 1990 and the men’s one in 1992. (She won the womenswear prize again in 1996.) Ralph Lauren won for womenswear in 1995 and menswear in both 1996 and 2007, while Michael Kors won for women’s in 1999 and men’s in 2003. Marc Jacobs has taken home three womenswear prizes and one menswear, and Tom Ford has two menswear trophies and one womenswear statue. In addition to his 1993 double win, Calvin Klein was named Menswear Designer of the Year in 1999. The practice of awarding the same designer two of the highest prizes in fashion on the same night has a recent precedent. At the 2015 British Fashion Awards, Jonathan Anderson became the first designer ever to win both the Menswear and Womenswear Designer of the Year prizes in the same year at that ceremony.
To present his Resort collection today, Michael Kors gathered editors at the Whitney Museum, with a view of the Hudson River and New Jersey in the distance. Apologizing for the clouds, he said he chose the location to remind us that we live on an island. Kors is building a new house and has islands on the brain. The subject matter agrees with him. This was a terrific, zippy collection, full of sarongs, strappy maillots, halter dresses, and one sleek embroidered djellaba that, thanks to Kors’s innate sense of polish, will likely see just as much action in the big city as in Bora Bora or the car-less Hydra, two islands he said he’s visited recently. Kors’s tropical prints are more versatile than the next guys’ primarily because of their palette: He used navy, brown, black, and white, with bright lemon yellow options for the extroverts in his audience. By pairing them with solids or boyish pajama stripes, he tempered their typical exuberance further. To adopt Kors speak for a moment—although, let’s face it, nobody gives quotes like MK—this was Tropicália à la tomboy. The femme aspects of the collection charmed equally as much. He’s often observed that no one’s doing laps in his bathing suits—his customers wear his maillots at parties on boats. Riffing on that idea, he made a dress out of swimwear, cutting a strappy jersey column with a sexy cutout at the midriff. Other pieces that qualified for what he described as the “super easy, super glamorous point of the whole collection” included a jumpsuit with wide, asymmetric leg openings that read like a breezy dress, and a floral-print, ankle-length halter dress.
Gabriela Hearst is a nominee in the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent category at tonight’s CFDA Awards. But even if she doesn’t get the nod she deserves, she’ll have her moment in the spotlight. Hearst is dressing Board of Directors’ Tribute winner Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood, who is being recognized for her activism alongside Gloria Steinem and Janelle Monáe. It’s an apt affiliation for Hearst: She’s currently raising money for Planned Parenthood with a sweater project. What’s more, she’s building activism into her still young brand. Hers is an environmental activism; some of her suiting is made with deadstock fabric, eliminating the carbon footprint of ordering and making new fabric. She’s also using linen where she can instead of cotton; the production of linen requires less water. To cut down on its itch factor, an American complaint, she’s treated it with aloe; apparently her linen will moisturize your skin while you wear it. Of course, activism only means so much when the aesthetics don’t match. Hearst has that covered. The white dress she’s made with that linen is utterly charming: long-sleeved, midi-length, and demure, as is the fashion now. Off-the-shoulder silhouettes in both easy day dresses and highly constructed, corseted tailoring suggest she’s trend savvy, but more typically, Hearst designs with an eye to subtle details. She calls them hidden luxuries, as in the inset sheer pleats at the back hem of a well-cut trench, of the lining of her reversible washed-denim puffer jacket, a signature item. It’s water-resistant wool. Hearst has always made the most of her Uruguay connection. Her ranch’s sheep provide much of the merino wool she uses in her collections; this time around, she’s combined it with 10 percent cashmere, but it’s so lofty, you’d swear it was 100 percent the real thing.