By the chorus of "fabulous"-es backstage, you knew that David Neville and Marcus Wainwright had struck a chord. And it wasn t just the music Thom Yorke recorded specifically for the occasion. For the fourth season now, the designers played with a piled-on look, and with references that included seventies surfers, the Glastonbury music festival, and nineties raves, they got the mix mostly right. "Editorial," but also street.
Take Fei Fei Sun s opening look. The boxy pantsuit played to Neville and Wainwright s strengths in tailoring. The electric turquoise hooded poncho that she wore under the jacket put them at the forefront of this week s burgeoning sport trend. A sleeveless, white, diagonal-hemmed tunic worn with navy and orange tuxedo track pants was another cool outfit. Bold color, the designers have learned from their denim collection, is a big sell these days, and they re sticking with it.
Some of the more densely layered looks—tweedy blazer over long cardigan over parachute skirt, all topping a crochet bra—were too tricky. No one wants to work that hard to get dressed in the morning, do they? And the plastic fabric of a pencil skirt seemed unlikely to lure many customers. But the opposite was true of much of the rest. The patchwork blazers, the space-dyed crochet sweater, a white leather mesh tee and Perfecto jacket—you could picture these flying off the shelves in Rag Bone s newly expanded location on East Houston Street.
