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Kendall, Gigi, Karlie get pulses racing at frozen NY Fashion Week
NEW YORK - New York Fashion Week got pulses racing on Valentine's Day, with boyish allure from Victoria Beckham, a champagne and dance party from Diane von Furstenberg and stunning magic realism from Prabal Gurung.
Supermodel Karlie Kloss and Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour led fashionistas braving 11 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 Celsius) on one of the coldest weekends in 20 years in New York on day four of the style bonanza that wraps up Thursday.
Fine tailoring at Victoria Beckham
Beckham began the day by sending a boyish yet fine-tailored feminine collection down a carpeted runway, with her English footballer husband David, and their children Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper front row.
Models strode the carpeted runway in checks, houndstooth and stripes in a collection that showcased Beckham's increasingly sophisticated and evolving personal style, her Spice Girls days long gone.
Beckham's answer to wrapping up warm is layering up, so spaghetti strap dresses were paired with luscious ribbed knits, checked double-breasted coats with ribbed sleeves and knitted leggings.
"I don't know what to say, I feel quite overwhelmed, so I'm really happy," said the English designer backstage after winning praise from style editors, dressed unusually casually in white sneakers, tailored dark trousers and an oversized white sweater.
The collection featured heritage houndstooth coats with waxed cord embroidery detail, which took five days each to make by hand.
"There are some more masculine fabrics, which I've used," she told reporters.
"It feels like a very feminine collection to me but I love adding those menswear elements to really toughen it up."
Beckham, whose second store opens in Hong Kong in weeks following the success of her Mayfair boutique in London, said she used light fabrics to take into consideration her clients in different climates.
"Asia is my fastest-growing market," Beckham told AFP. "I really love Asian women; I feel that they really understand fashion and it seemed like the perfect place for the second store."
There were coats galore but also plenty of bare shoulders.
"I think it's nice to show what's going on underneath, and the layering of the knitwear and the bodices that I think are really strong," she said.
"I just wanted to look at what I've worn and what I love and just rework those pieces to make them feel new and fresh, and just show how my personal style has evolved," Beckham said.
One well-wisher presented her with a beautifully crafted posy of pink and white roses backstage and wished her a happy Valentine's Day.
But when asked if she had special plans later Sunday, the 41-year-old mother of four said: "I'll be working!"
Karlie, Gigi, Kendall at DVF
Diane von Furstenberg dispensed with the catwalk to invite her guests to celebrate Valentine's Day and "love power" by sipping champagne and nibbling vodka jelly hearts as models danced.
She hosted the event at her studios in the Meatpacking District, where Kloss wore a long golden wrap dress, and models of the moment Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner posed and danced in a little tableau.
Von Furstenberg also joined them briefly, throwing a few shapes with the models to the strains of 1979 disco hit "We Are Family."
"Magical realism" at Prabal Gurung
Prabal Gurung, the New York-based Nepalese designer, summed up his collection as a fashion designer's take on magical realism inspired by French artist Henri Rousseau's 1905 oil painting "Woman Walking in an Exotic Forest" and the 1813 poem "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron.
There were luxurious oversized coats with exaggerated fur collars.
A designer who often finds inspiration in nature, he opened the show with models dressed in snow white, and intricate feather and leaf designs were picked out on coats in prints and hand-embroidered lace.
Contrasting with snow were pewter, midnight, ivory, cherry, blackberry and pale blue sky, his classic east-meets-west approach mixed hand-knit Nepalese cashmere and printed, pleated leather.
His coats were breathtaking, such as a snow wool duffle coat with white fox fur trim, and an oversized pale blue jacket with an enormous pale blue and midnight blue fox fur trim collar running down the front.
"Amazing," "wow," breathed members of the audience as Gurung appeared for a little wave at the end of the show and a burst of applause.
Sub-freezing parade
Italy-based label Moncler, which specializes in luxury outerwear, held an open-air fashion show defying sub-freezing temperatures on one of the coldest nights New York has seen in 20 years.
At the Lincoln Center plaza outside the Metropolitan Opera House, models dressed in royal blue retro ski outfits with matching hats, eyes masks, and black knee-high socks and black shoes marched in military formation, crisscrossing in an out of different lines.
They provided a marching backdrop for models dressed in more neutral palates wearing oversized fur gloves and fur boots with skimpy cut, sexy Alpine coats, leggings and luxuriant hats.
Inspired by characters of American film director Jim Jarmusch, French designer Joseph Altuzarra unveiled a striking collection that combined 19th century textiles with Indian designs, Venetian pearls, as well as Moroccan and Turkish folk costumes. — AFP
