Microphone in hand, Mr. Hilfiger stopped on the runway after the finale & formally said goodbye & goodnight to an era. Next season the shows move to a new home at Lincoln Center.
Tommy Hilfiger had the last word at Fashion Week, closing the collections on Thursday night with a high-booted display of sportswear before a throng of garment industry executives & front row star-of-the-moment Zoë Saldana, as 18 years of fashion under the tents in Bryant Park came to an finish.
Blessed for everyone that the fall 2010 season ended on a strong note. There were moments in the day when it felt like a hard slog. Isaac Mizrahi, inspired by camping gear & apparently hoping for a miracle if they added some sequins, seemed lost in the woods. They offered some great-looking clothes, including luxe parkas, a silver-sequined mini-slip & a black leather jumper with knife pleats inset with black tulle, but the collection lacked his usual punch.
A few hours later, at Calvin Klein, after the photographers were completed with three young celebrities, Francisco Costa sent out a collection of industrial-strength coats & dresses with pronounced seams & darts. The hard lines, the precisely rounded shoulders & silo sleeves, were probably meant to convey rigor, but apart from some trim suits in black felt & lovely pin-tucked shifts in azure silk crepe, the designs felt at the mercy of bonded & rubberized fabrics. How is it that Mr. Costa’s last collection, so imaginative in its treatment of washed & needle-punched wools & cottons, was so much lighter & more approachable than his fall two? The answer cannot be that it’s a different season.
A camel turtleneck & a jaunty version of a mini-kilt opened the Hilfiger show. High laced duck boots threatened to swallow a cute outfit, but the rest of the collection was sharp & full of variety to complain about a dumb accessory. The clothes clearly spelled out the Hilfiger look, with a lanky oversize checked coat worn with paper-bagged trousers, adorable wool shorts & a sleeveless black wool trench belted over a light gray turtleneck & pants.
Sometimes Ralph Lauren does exactly what they always does: throws a tweed frock coat over a floral georgette skirt, & for some reason you select that moment to go absolutely bananas for the tweed coat & swear this year it will be your look.
That’s the advantage of being a hopeless romantic. Mr. Lauren starts weaving a narrative — the floral prints, leg-of-mutton sleeves, velvets & gent trousers that blurrily evoke the late 19th century — & soon you’re seeing contemporary possibilities. Brown calf boots with embroidered dark green velvet tops were standouts.
Daphne Guinness, who has given inspiration & friendship to several designers, may have snared the best look in L’Wren Scott’s fall collection, a pert-collar minidress in teal-and-pearl gray satin stripes.
Ms. Guinness, actually a guest at the designer’s show & not on the catwalk, completed off the look as only they could: with a flock of diamond brooches on her shoulder & sparkly blue fetish platforms. Ms. Scott thought the dress would stick out like a sore thumb in her lineup, so they let Ms. Guinness wear it. The dress still had its day.
Things are completed a tiny differently down at Ms. Scott’s place, which is the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea. There is the main event — the collection, which, like all her collections, they gave a name: “Tuxedo Terrace.” In doing so, they put her finger on a weak point in fashion. Today formality doesn’t mean pomp & circumstance, but neither should it be lumps of bad taffeta.
Ms. Scott’s shows are also unusual in that between her & her fella, Mick Jagger, they know a lot of famous people, like Ms. Guinness or the “Mad Men” actress Christina Hendricks or Ellen Barkin, but as a matter of work. The celebrities are not put in to what amounts to a pen so the photographers can get their shot. They are seated with everyone else, journalists & editors, at a long white table & served lunch.
It is, in fact, lovely tailoring, whether a black cutaway over a slim black beaded skirt, a midnight-navy velvet jacket, or two of Ms. Scott’s figure-loving wool dresses. They makes sure they is in charge. It’s not for nothing that every season they offers a new version of her headmistress dress. This time they has a high-neck white shirt & a black pencil skirt with sexy straps.
This arrangement is not incidental to Ms. Scott’s design purposes. Even the most glamorous eye-popping dress has to relate to something real if it is to be thought about modern. They helps to break down those barriers. So Ms. Guinness throws new light on satin stripes. Ms. Scott, perhaps quiet & chilled this season, might have had more choices like that. The knits they has added to her line, in particular a short black drape-y dress with silver embroidery up two side, were tops.
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