Fashion lessons learned in NYC as focus shifts to London

Models present creations during the recently concluded New York Fashion Week.[PHOTOS/Agencies]

With London Fashion Week kicking off on Friday, here are 10 top trends New York offered this season. Jennie Matthew reports.

New York Fashion Week wrapped up on Wednesday in an explosion of glowing colors, greater inroads into diversity, designers still pondering the point of the runway and younger talent given a chance to shine.

As the global style bandwagon now flits to Europe, with London Fashion Week kicking off on Friday before moving onto Milan and Paris, here are 10 top trends New York offered this season:

1990s throwback

Tom Ford kicked off the week by going back to his Gucci heyday, mining for inspiration the decade that made him famous. There were plenty of low-slung pants, hip-grazing cut-out bodysuits and boxy jackets.

Italian label GCDS also went for low-slung and bodysuits, while Oscar de la Renta and Victoria Beckham showed oversized jackets.

Oh, and 1990s supermodel Cindy Crawford officially passed the baton to the next generation - her 16-year-old daughter Kaia Gerber made her runway debut for the Calvin Klein, Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs.

Under boob

New York may be primarily a commercial market that luxuriates in wearable fashion, and above all, sales - but side boob has been tabloid fodder for years and designers were not afraid to be daring.

Spring/summer is the season for under boob - tops so short they just graze the nipple, revealing plenty of flesh underneath. See Chromat and Victor Barragan. GCDS took it a step further by even showing nipple. Jackets were opened to reveal side boob at Vicky Zhang.

Rainbow colors

Collections were a riot of every color from the rainbow - hot pink paired with red: the color combo of the season for the brave Tom Ford shopper. Marc Jacobs went orange, green and psychedelic.

Spain's luxury pret-a-couture label Depolzo luxuriated in green, pale pink and bright yellow. Yellow was a statement color at Carolina Herrera and also Ralph Lauren, in tulle with a black biker jacket.

Check mate

Fine check - or the graph-paper look as Victoria Beckham told AFP - is having a moment. See Rosie Assoulin, Public School, Christian Siriano, Monse and Calvin Klein among others.

Stripe right

Traditionally the preserve of old-fashioned pajamas, blue was the color of choice for vertical stripes. Seen at Rosie Assoulin, Zero + Maria Cornejo, Phillip Lim, Sies Marjan, Monse and Jason Wu.

Models present creations during the recently concluded New York Fashion Week. [PHOTOS/Agencies]

Flamenco

With flamenco an ultimate and timeless summer fantasy, there were flounces and ruffles galore for a flirty, sensuous look. See Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Phillip Lim and Jeremy Scott.

Politics

Disgust with Donald Trump continues to bubble over in New York and resonates well with the largely female clientele of luxury fashion labels - not to mention a Democrat-voting, diverse group of designers.

Tory Burch offered an ode to happiness to escape troubled times. Retailer alice + olivia had a model pose in front of a feminist wall and offered a Super Woman clutch.

Raf Simons, whose show for Calvin Klein was the week's stand out, meditated on the American dream meets American horror.

Rihanna-favorite Matthew Adams Dolan says that in times of "relentless civil unrest and widening political divides", he reimagined a "working wardrobe for an inclusive and celebratory generation".

Diversity

Continuing a theme, perhaps snubbing their nose at Trump's assault on minorities, the notoriously snooty world of fashion is starting to relax is rules of membership.

Plus-size models are having a moment in the sun, see Ashley Graham walking for Prabal Gurung and Michael Kors, not to mention plus-size only collections from Addition Elle and Chromat.

Giving others a chance

With Raf Simons the lone standout and the departure of established trend setters Rodarte, Proenza Schouler, Thom Browne and Altuzarra to Paris, it gave editors, bloggers and buyers time to check out shows several confessed they would never have bothered to see otherwise.

One was Mexican-born Victor Barragan, 25, who got a packed house for his third New York show, offering an original take on what it means to be masculine/feminine, the female body and defying conventions.

End of the runway

A hot topic of conversation for some time, an increasing number of designers are searching for something different. Ralph Lauren unveiled his collection out of town alongside his collection of racing cars.

Duchess of Cambridge favorite Jenny Packham, who next year celebrates her eponymous evening label's 30th anniversary, ditched the runway in favor of a photographic and video campaign to be released on Thursday.

"I got what I wanted really and I just felt it needed a bit more integrity really," she says.

 

Agence France-Presse