By Marguerita Choy
NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Expect to see more flesh come
spring, as designers at New York’s Fashion Week reveal cropped
tops, short flouncy skirts and sheer lace and mesh paneling on
the runways.
At the Lacoste show on Saturday, creative director Felipe
Oliveira Baptista flirted with the paradox of chic yet sporty
clothes for spring 2014 and looked to the company’s roots on the
tennis court for “all lightness and transparence for a carefree
summer.”
“Materials are light, their volumes softening and
stretching, colors bring freshness, and trompe-l’oeil creates
seductive flesh-revealing juxtapositions,” the French lifestyle
brand said in a statement at the show.
The graphic white lines of the tennis court manifested as
the piping of the collar on men’s jackets and the border of a
dress, then turned into organza or nearly transparent
jersey-striped paneling in rugby dresses, cropped tops and
shirts. For men and women, the palette was tennis whites and
softly sun-washed blues, greens and dusty pinks.
New York-based label Ruffian showed playfully short and
flowing A-line skirts as well, citing inspiration by rebellious
French writer Francoise Sagan and the freshness and
vulnerability of youth in her seminal novel “Bonjour Tristesse,”
set in St. Tropez in the 1950s.
Brian Wolk and Claude Morais, the designers behind Ruffian,
translated the tale of the ing (c)nue into flouncy georgette and
silk skirts and dresses in florals and in black and white prints
and into slim cigarette pants, coined the “Sagan trouser.”
Jill Stuart’s collection also was girlie and revealing, with
cropped tops, short pleated dresses and skirts, tiny shorts,
short kaftans and tunics, and cut-out, lace and sheer paneling.
While the designer’s collection seemed more appropriate for
the beach than city streets, Stuart’s palette was nevertheless
very New York – black, white and beige, with a splash of blue
denim.
Son Jung Wan, one of South Korea’s most successful
designers, also kept to a minimalist and subtle color scheme of
white and gray, along with hues of sherbet and splashes of
canary yellow, gold and copper embellishment for impact.
She said the line was inspired by cities in Morocco,
including Casablanca, “the fatally attractive Marrakech” and
Essaouira.
“This neo-geo-like collection (uses) chalky whites and earth
tone colors of the sun-drenched Sahara Desert,” she said in a
statement.
Along with showing menswear-inspired styles such as skinny
trouser suits, she showed dresses with oversized cut-outs and
draped low-cut backs to accentuate feminine curves.
Her sheer fabrics were used as well as trompe-l’oeil stripes
in a dress, and revealing mesh was used in men’s long-sleeved
tops in canary yellow and or beige.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Whitney; Editing by Ellen
Wulfhorst and Peter Cooney)
