Marc Jacobs dances to his own tune. Last season it was chorus line girls, this season it’s Victorian orphans from Oliver Twist. To the strains of “Who Will Buy?” from the Broadway show, Jacobs imagined a fantastical version of the Dickensian pickpockets. They roamed the streets in technicolor metallic skirts, hologram tweed jackets, crocheted shetland sweaters and stoles anchored with a giant pin. For evening work, glitter pantsuits or bustled patchwork silk dresses, complete with oversize faux fur top hats and pilgrim buckle shoes. The effect was more pimp than pauper, but strip the theatrics away, some fantastic clothes indeed.
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Carolina Herrera also set the bar high. While some explore other eras or other worlds, Herrera knows how to turn out an elegant outfit, without gimmicks. The strength of this collection lays in her prints, which seemed to take inspiration from nature and art. The dominant silhouette, a cropped top over a pencil or a ball-skirt, felt rad, not retro.
Donna Karan is feeling just dandy, declaring it the season of the suit. She’s deconstructed elements of 1930s formal men’s dress and reformulated them as sireny power looks. For day, double-breasted pinstriped jackets were cut like vests, with a skirt to match. For evening, the tuxedo got a makeover: It came with a tailcoat the way Dietrich would have worn it, or reworked as a strapless gown. Spectacular.