Aside from a bit of front-row intrigue—news of company president Mario Grauso s departure from Carolina Herrera was in this morning s paper, and there he was sitting with his wife, Anne—the mood was positively decorous at today s show. But isn t it always? Herrera s program notes explained that the collection s starting point was the intricate forms woven in Japanese baskets. A rarefied inspiration, to be sure, and one that meant there was plenty of surface interest to take in on the clothes, from an intriguing vest-jacket woven in gray linen jacquard to a strapless white dress embroidered with tiny wooden tiles.
Counterbalancing the clearly luxe materials was a surprising push into silhouettes that were, if not quite downtown, then certainly younger looking: Thigh-baring shorts accompanied jackets for a new (to Herrera, at least) take on the summer suit. Fresh evening separates, like an ivory satin toile long-sleeve blouse and matching long skirt shared the runway with gowns and column dresses. And, yes, there was even a jumpsuit—it was belted and strapless, with cropped full legs, and came in a deep brick-red gazar.
But for all of the laudable experimentation with new shapes, there was a clunkiness to some of Herrera s other, more familiar looks. The rope-weave jacquard of a tea-length dress sagged in the bodice and added volume to the hips, and a rose chiffon gown with a bugle-beaded top didn t have the signature polish of the collection s winner, a bronze one-shoulder gown with parallel lines of gold embroidery tracing the outline of its model s body. That number walked the line between youth and sophistication.
