"I am who I am, it s hard to change that much," Rachel Zoe said backstage. "Still, with this collection I ve changed the most." And so she did. Not her personal style, mind you—Zoe is still the polished L.A. boho she was before she became a household name. And she wore a faux fur from her label to prove it. On the runway, though, Zoe went for what she called an "English/seventies/equestrian" vibe, and the change was a positive development. It gave her the opportunity to show some clever tailoring. The three-piece suits, in particular, were a fresh look for her price range, and a pair of navy jodhpurs and a matching shearling-collar bomber seemed to have a new sense of polish. Maybe she s been working on her fits. It helped that she scaled way, way back on the accessories.
Zoe paid special attention to outerwear. An oversize checked plaid looked good on both a double-breasted coat and a toggle-front trench. Other pieces—a ponyhair sweatshirt, baggy leather pants, sweaters with sequin sleeves—looked like the requirements of doing business in the contemporary market in 2013. In other words, everybody s doing them. But all in all, Zoe stepped it up here.
