During last month’s New York Fashion Week, the top women’s designers from the United States, and from around the world, gathered to present their latest collections and collectively look forward to the season to come. After attending the fashion week counterparts in London, Milan and Paris, we’re now looking back at our favorite collections, each of them filled with a unique perspective, and of course, several covetable designs.
Rodarte
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Kate and Laura Mulleavy’s spring outing appeared in true-to-form messy chic—a culmination of their long-cultivated aesthetics and the juxtaposition of lacy layers against ethereal embroideries and wafting hems. It was subtly 70s inspired yet entirely and deliciously romantic. Referencing the Spanish film, “The Spirit of the Beehive,” the duo’s signature mixed-lace dresses with floral embellishments and embroideries were transformed into this season’s honeycomb lace confections and some well-placed pollen-like polka dots, not to forget their bold rock and roll shearling and fringe moments. This was easily one of the label’s best collections in recent years—and hands down worthy of the top spot on this list.
Creatures of the Wind
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You can always count on Creatures of the Wind’s Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters for a well-played dose of seasonal quirk, but this season they explored their talent for contrasts with an authentic yet noticeably more refined collection of slight retro rock nuances. All in all it was balanced but far from boring. Instead of showstoppers, this season’s favorites were the floral printed dresses with lace details, a long khaki cotton twill jacket with workwear details and rather simplistic V-neck dresses with gathered sleeves.
Monse
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Monse designers Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia returned to the runway with deconstructed men’s shirting and a spring collection of reconstructed feminine silhouettes. This time around, however, Kim and Garcia updated their menswear-based staples with a sparkle of colored sequins on blouses and skirts. Sleek, chic and completely sophisticated, this collection was full of contrasts and inventive pairings—and we can’t get enough of the sharp angles and skin reveals.
Tibi
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For Spring/Summer 2017, Tibi’s Amy Smilovic simplified the full skirts and voluminous sleeves of the Edwardian Era for a modern offering of easy, wearable silhouettes, but you would be hard pressed to see any outdated period references here. This season’s age-old influences were streamlined into washed denim and relaxed suits, but softly represented in a long pale-blue dress with cinched sleeves—each a straightforward favorite in a collection of understated elegance.
Hood By Air
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Now one of the hottest events of the season, Hood By Air’s spring runway was the place to be seen for celebrities such as Naomi Campbell and Jaden Smith, but don’t let that be a sign to you that designer Shayne Oliver’s underground aesthetics will be going mainstream anytime soon; this season he continued to push boundaries. Taking to the runway with a new collection of tailored streetwear, Oliver reworked traditional suits and transformed the Wall Street staple into zipped jumpsuits and a variety of spliced options—a combination of looks we could really see ourselves falling in love with. We are still obsessed his new range of slogans (“Don’t Trust A Church Girl”), but we’re still trying to wrap our minds around the whole two-sided shoe thing.
Brent Taalur Ramsey is an American fashion writer living in Paris.