Michael Kors is a native New Yorker with serious prairie envy. Time and again, the designer seeks inspiration in America s open spaces. For spring, he set his sights on the Southwest and designed a collection that was half Texas, half Taos, but not without an urban edge. After all, his big-city girls, like Catherine Zeta-Jones, who, along with husband Michael Douglas, unleashed a paparazzi melee at the show, want to look chic no matter what their destination may be.
To that end, he offered up warm-weather staples with a rich seventies bent, like safari shirts, gauchos, and scarf dresses. There were ecrus, olives, browns, crisp blacks and whites, and painted desert accents of orange and red. Kors can t resist matching a bikini top with a full skirt; when the bottoms were on display, they were of the high-waist retro variety. (Gratefully, those eyelet numbers were lined.)
It wasn t all fun in the sun. Take away the hat tied around her neck, and Lisa Cant s black wool serge bolero and cropped pants go from Santa Fe to Manhattan s Upper East Side. Of course, his eveningwear—this season in tiers of chantilly lace and point d esprit—is always gala ready, regardless of the time zone or backdrop.
Now back to the desert. Some members of the audience questioned Kors use of camouflage. Was it a political statement, a message of support for our troops, or neither? One thing s for certain: His hand-painted camo-backed mink balmacaan is likely to inspire a waiting list a country mile long.
