Herrera to bow out, pink carnations at Tory Burch

NEW YORK — New York Fashion Week day two saw first lady favorite Carolina Herrera signal the end of an era by stepping down from her four-decade-old label, while Tory Burch showcased breezy optimism in a sea of carnations for a post-#MeToo world.

The Venezuelan-born 79-year-old Herrera said she had appointed US designer Wes Gordon to take over as creative director after she takes the bow at her fall/winter 2018 fashion show at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan on Monday.

But if she’s waving goodbye to the runway, she insisted in an interview with The New York Times that she was not retiring. Instead she will become a global brand ambassador for her fashion label, which has a reported $1.4 billion in annual sales.

“I am so pleased Wes is now part of the Herrera House — he’s the right one for this position to further build on our great momentum,” she said in a statement.

Gordon, who studied in London, and from 2010 to 2016 presented his eponymous womenswear collection in New York, has been creative consultant at Carolina Herrera for a year.

Herrera founded her namesake fashion house in 1981, going on to dress first ladies from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Michelle Obama and Melania Trump, as well as Hollywood actresses like Renee Zellweger, not to mention generations of society women.

“Fashion has changed a lot,” Herrera told the Times.

“Women dress in a very strange way. Like clowns. There is a lot of pressure to change all the time. But it’s better to wear what suits you.”

Tory Burch also knows what suits her, transforming a market space under a flyover into a field of pink carnations sprouting from springy moss, light streaming through the windows and the Chamber Orchestra of New York playing Vivaldi.

Her fall/winter 2018 collection was romantic, whimsical and partly inspired by Lee Radziwill, the 84-year-old indomitable American socialite and younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

And if there was a hot pink pussy bow blouse and matching skirt, any allusion to the pink pussy hats worn by women marching against the Trump administration was pure coincidence: turns out Radziwill has a hot pink couch in her Paris living room.

CHINA MARKET
“I promise that wasn’t in my mind. It really wasn’t,” laughed 51-year-old Burch, worth an estimated $600 million according to Forbes.

“I’m a big supporter of women and women’s issues but that is probably not how I would demonstrate that,” she added. “I love the color and pink, we were referencing Lee Radziwill… she had a pink couch.”

But she is only too happy to see positivity blowing in the winds as the United States navigates the sexual harassment watershed.

“You can read optimism into the whole mood of the collection,” she told AFP. “That is a definite direction,” she said.

“Women’s rights is the reason I started my company… this has been ingrained in our conversation for 14 years so to see a sea change is pretty spectacular.”

Her collection showcased feminine layers mixed with classic tailoring, chintz reimagined and made modern into a floaty dress, scarf hemlines paired with clean-cut tomboy jackets and a blanket poncho reflecting the boho vibe of the label.

There was a handbag named after Lee. Colors were ivory, pale pink, green and navy, with patchworks of florals and stripes, delicate lace and organza, pointy-toed booties.

If New York Fashion Week is struggling to excite buyers and editors as big names sit out the schedule or flee to Europe, Burch is not one of those to defect.

“I love showing in New York,” she said. But she is thinking about “more seasonless dressing” — reflected in the layering, making the clothes wearable in any clime.

It’s very useful for a global business: “They’re very interested in fashion and also they’re traveling a lot,” said Burch of the Chinese client. “The China market is very important for us.”

TOM FORD’S ‘PUSSY POWER’
Tom Ford on Thursday put female empowerment center stage at NY Fashion Week, with models prowling the runway as cat women, very much wearing the trousers.

If the biannual style fest battles an identity crisis as top-name labels flee to Europe, the 56-year-old Texan-born designer turned movie director was not one to let the #MeToo movement pass him by.

On the first day of New York’s first women’s fashion week since the sexual harassment watershed exploded, the Ford woman of Fall/Winter 2018 is an alley cat, a superwoman with a “Pussy Power” purse.

With barely a skirt in sight, the pant suit ruled. Models prowled the catwalk, their legs enveloped in tight pants, leggings or opaque tights of red, orange, yellow and green leopard print — messy hair kept off their forehead protest-style with black headbands, owning the streets.

If pink pussy hats were the uniform of women demonstrators against the Trump administration — a reference to the president’s use of a vulgarity on a leaked Access Hollywood tape to refer to women’s genitals — then Ford’s cat theme took the play on words to another level.

Even without the animal print pants, there were jaguar and zebra print kitten heels, tight lame leggings, a riot of sequins, patchwork and snakeskin on oversized coats, and boxy blazers — belted for business.

All eyes were on the models’ pins; apart from daring cut-out backs barely skimming the top of the seat and cut-out waists, there were few flashes of flesh. Dresses were restricted to high-necked minis.

In a throwback to hip-hop models wore silver ball hoop earrings, and there were lashings of black — the color actresses opted to wear at the Golden Globes to protest against harassment.

“Every single thing you design, at least in the luxury sector, has to be potent,” Ford told Women’s Wear Daily in an interview. “It has to be the most amazing thing. No one needs just another black skirt.”

“I get calls from our store managers all the time saying we need more things that are more expensive. When (they) say more expensive, they mean more special,” he added.

His models, led by 16-year-old Kaia Gerber, daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford, debuted a new collection of cosmetics called Extreme and were watched by the likes of Julianne Moore and Zayn Malik.

RED CARPET EMPOWERMENT
Tadashi Shoji tapped into the post-Harvey Weinstein world by offering women a sleek, powerful red carpet collection oozing 1940s Hollywood glamour, modernized with cut outs, pleating and plenty of black.

Women, he said, must never apologize for what they chose to wear or for wanting to look seductive — regardless of how male harassers may choose to excuse predatory behavior given a woman’s looks.

“So I did very sensual, sexy dresses, this time. Our dresses are about the empowerment of women and making women’s body look beautiful,” the 70-year-old, Japanese-born designer told AFP.

“Women have the right to enjoy life. It’s ok. Why would you have to apologize? Men don’t.”

REAL MODELS
“Real people” modeled alongside the professionals at the quirky presentation of contemporary New York knitwear brand PH5, including a nurse and students from a nonprofit encouraging girls to code.

They showcased colorful stripy jumpsuits, body suits, sweaters and long skirts, all made of knitwear.

Colorful socks over shoes stretched up to the low thighs, with rockabilly-ish hairdos and dark glasses tying the looks together.

“We are trying to build a brand, fighting between what sells and what we really want to create,” said Wei Lin, 30, the daughter of a large knitwear manufacturer whose factory near Hong Kong makes the clothes.

Millennial pop sensation Taylor Swift and actress Emma Roberts, niece of Julia, are already fans. — AFP