The fashion world is two steps ahead of the season and prepared for spring 2014 at New York City's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
From Sept. 5-12, designers, makeup artists, models and more put their best feet forward to display new collections and preview the upcoming trends for spring on various runways in the iconic Lincoln Center. This year's Fashion Week boasted more than 80 designer shows over eight days. From bridal gowns and couture runway designs to everyday outfits and kidswear, there was something for everyone.
"I prefer the designers who focus on clothes that are actually wearable," said senior Chelsea Williams. "But I definitely do like looking at the more couture gowns. They're beautiful!"
Lightweight fabrics and resort-like themes were ever-present during many of the womenswear collection showcases. Designer Tory Burch was inspired by the Italian-French film "La Piscine" for her spring 2014 collection and made sure to keep her clothes airy and light. Celebrities such as Emmy Rossum and Camila Alves showed their appreciation of her news designs as they were spotted in the front row at the show.
Vera Wang, a designer famous for her bridal gowns and understanding of women's fashion, kept the fabrics and hues of her collection light as well, but took her designs to another level by adding interesting architectural aspects to them. Asymmetrical tops were contrasted with wispy skirts, and cropped lettermen jackets were paired with heels.
Richard Chai described his women's collection to the Los Angeles Times as "soft geometry." His menswear runway show also stuck with common themes of lightweight layers and primary colors.
A new aspect of this year's NYFW was the heavy emphasis on social media. While designers used sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in the past, they took use of social media to the next level. Rebecca Minkoff used the popular app Snapchat to premiere looks before they hit the runway at her Sept. 6 show. IMG, which runs Fashion Week, saw the high response rates for select designers while streaming their shows in the past and set up 59 streams for anyone to see this year. While Fashion Week was once an exclusive, invitation-only event, the use of technology allowed everyone to participate in the biggest fashion event in the world.
Alexandra D'Aluisio can be reached at Alexandra.daluisio@student.shu.edu.
