Mark Badgley and James Mischka channeled the tropical glamour of mid-fifties Cuba for Spring. The pair sourced their visuals by digging through old photos of friends parents snapped during Havana s heyday. (The friends, incidentally, were in Palm Beach—the perfect locale to wear these clothes today.) Badgley and Mischka mostly worked a formula of clean, breezy fabrics with a well-measured dose of embellishment. By day, that would mean a lovely bell-sleeve white jersey dress, totally plain but for the vibrant coral bib necklace; and for evening, a fluttery black silk halter gown, casually belted and worn with a chunky crystal cuff. Jewelry was important here, seen in big, sparkly costume tangles of chains and found objects. It s far from a fresh idea, but it brought a welcome off-kilter twist to the designers straightforward elegance. As their notes explained, this old-school island set also wore Parisian couture, and there was certainly a touch of Rue Cambon in all the black and white, and evidence of atelier hours in beadwork and the hundreds of tiny white petals embroidered on a ball skirt. The first two terrific daywear looks in salt-and-pepper silk tweed were also a nod to the same. The graphic palette far outshone the shots of color in lipstick red and highlighter pink: The latter is a hue that s become a clichéd way to add runway excitement, but that s a minor quibble for a mostly solid collection.
