You were expecting a wedding dress? Oops. Instead, Vera Wang returned to the New York fashion calendar with a Dark Crystal kind of magic, replete with sheer midnight lace, whirlpool hems made from tulle, and chain mail armor accents, because let’s face it, before that Vera Wang wedding dress—and sometimes well after—love is a battlefield.
OSCAR DE LA RENTA
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Beauty for beauty’s sake gets panned by some critics, but right now, I’ll take all the good news I can get. And this daffodil dress and ballerina bun combo is very good news.
JAHNKOY
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My family took a boat from Russia to the south Bronx two lifetimes ago, and that’s why I’m here. Artist Maria Kazakova got here from the motherland a lot more recently, but her brash tapestry of Soviet fonts, Siberian embroidery, and black American culture was one I recognized intimately from my older cousins—the whitest kids at every neighborhood block party, and the coolest ones at every Rosh Hashanah dinner. Whether this particular combo can resonate beyond New York City—where most of our kin, by fortune or force, got here on ships —is touch and go, but I’ve never met a suburban teen (including myself, way back when) who didn’t want sweatshirts to propel them somewhere more interesting.
PROENZA SCHOULER
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OMG Proenza Birkenstocks! Discuss. When you’re done, pay careful attention to the hair by Guido Palau for Redken, with ponytails wrapped tightly in black leather strips. It’s severe and sexy, and possibly referencing S&M culture… though the actual clothes are more pleasure than pain, except for the price tags.
CYNTHIA ROWLEY
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In a genius move, Rowley—a lifelong New Yorker—scheduled her show for 3 pm, right when New York City kids stream out of schools across the city. That meant several curious junior high cliques slipped quietly into the show, held on a public street in TriBeCa, and watched the whole thing with mouths agape. 13 year old girls are notoriously “over it,” but 38 swingy looks in milky Fruit Loop colors were enough to keep them awestruck—and off their phones—for a full 20 minutes.
ECKHAUS LATTA
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The art-school misfits have grown up with a line of intricately patterned pieces and slinky sequin dresses—which they paired, of course, with clogs. It was a viable collection for anyone craving party staples from an independent brand, and an excuse to dye our hair blue, because, you know, art school.
