Although CoMo is more or less a fashion bubble almost exclusively made up of Mizzou-branded apparel, it’s important not to forget that off campus, changing seasons means more than swapping your Truman t-shirt for your Mizzou hoodie. New York’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week spring/summer 2013 shows wrapped on Sept. 13, and although it will be months before anything inspired by the shows ends up in your closets, it never hurts to get a jump on the trends. Hundreds of designers showed in New York this week, but these highlights from both veteran and newer designers will give you a taste of what to expect to wear next spring.
Alexander Wang has put edgy silhouettes down the runway since 2007, so it was hardly a surprise that Spring 2013 stayed true to his signature aesthetic. Playing up lines and structure, Wang sent chiseled look after chiseled look down the runway. A number of jackets and dresses were left deliberately boxy but were perfectly balanced with sleeker cut-out cocktail dresses —- a sign that the skin-baring trend won’t be gone anytime soon. With a number of black leather looks, the collection doesn’t exactly scream spring, but the dark outfits were complemented by contrasting white ensembles that seem more appropriate for April.
Like Wang, Jason Wu kept his spring collection in hues of gray, black and blue. Gone was the soft femininity that made him so famous in 2009 (if you’re wondering why you’ve heard Wu’s name, he dressed Michelle Obama for the Inaugural Ball), but his edgier looks still come off successfully. Although far less delicate than Michelle Obama’s dress, his show-closing blue, sparkly evening number proved that he still knows how to expertly work with tulle. In a collection heavy on lace and leather, Wu’s few nude and coral looks, in which black was only a detail, stood out as the most appealing choices for spring.
Erin Fetherston, best known for collections that veer toward the sickeningly saccharine, stepped out of her comfort zone this season to jump on the darks bandwagon. Her risk-taking paid off —- her presentation proved to be the perfect mix of girly and grunge. Fans of her frothy dresses will still find plenty to love in her spring line, and those with edgier taste will be pleasantly surprised by her black dresses with hardware detailing. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen an ombré trend for spring, but Fetherston might be responsible for its comeback next season. Her delicate dresses that melt from pale colors to rich oranges and greens were particularly lust-worthy.
In a fashion week that ended up feeling a bit monochromatic, Diane von Furstenberg’s collection was a notable exception. While she sent a few black and white looks down the runway, her collection was peppered with brilliant shades of aqua, coral and lime green. Von Furstenberg has been a fixture of New York fashion since the 1970s, but years later, she still finds ways to keep her collections fresh. This year, she downplayed her signature wrap dress in favor of looser silhouettes and sent her some of her models down the runway in futuristic eyewear, courtesy of Google. Her unique accessories quickly made her collection the buzz of both the fashion and tech blogospheres. The glasses, known simply as “Glass,” are Google’s new video, web and messaging interface rumored to hit stores sometime in 2013 or 2014, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
In one of the more raved about collections of the week, Thakoon Panichgul sent airy looks down the runway in a show that focused on pastels and Asian-inspired prints. His stunning opening outfit was a perfect structural dress in a unique cherry blossom and hummingbird print, a pattern that later showed up in a number of his other looks. Peplum skirts and tulle made just about every piece look feathery, and even his darker looks included lace or sheer elements to balance even a suggestion of austerity.
Next week, the fashion world heads to London for a week traditionally known for being more avant-garde than the New York shows. But after New York, it’s clear that there’s still plenty of room for less macabre spring-inspired clothing to grace the runways.
