Bryan Bradley is taking Tuleh to a darker place—or at least injecting irony into the line that s become a mainstay of the young, Upper East Side social circuit. Of course, Tuleh s appeal has consistently been its ability to make pretty clothes that aren t cliché. This season, Bradley s throwing some extra bite into that beloved mix—starting with the soundtrack (an antiplastic-surgery rap by Mother Inc., the rock group made up of Yvonne Force Villareal and Sandra Hamburg), continuing with the front-row celebrity (Keith Richards and Patti Hansen, there to cheer on their modeling daughters), and finishing up with the clothes.
Bradley s gifted color mixes are a trademark of Tuleh, and he didn t disappoint: apricot with olive, pink with brown, blue and brown with yellow, and so on. And there was plenty of traditional Tuleh to be found, in Empire-waist chiffon blouses, fluttery dresses, and those famous boxy jackets with the extended cuff and oversize buttons. But he also executed some daredevil moves, like a rubbery gray raincoat over a lace dress, or some unnervingly nubbly gilded frog-skin pieces. How well edgy and socialite will mix remains to be seen, but Bradley s fan base is big and loyal. Which means spring could be darker than usual.
