In recent years, Rag & Bone has shown their collections in large dark warehouses, where the soundtrack is loud and models stomp down the runway at an exceptionally fast clip.
As with most shows, attending Rag & Bone requires a lot of sitting around and waiting for a short and often less-than-satisfying experience.
This year, though, designer Marcus Wainwright presented his Spring/Summer collection in Rag & Bone’s warehouse in the meatpacking district.
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Inspired by Glastonbury and other music festivals, this was an altogether more intimate experience: Rag & Bone’s staffers greeted me and gave me a tour of the showroom and new collection, as a personal shopper would do for a very important customer.
It’s the kind of experience that only rich people and top fashion editors enjoy either before or after the official collections debut. And on Thursday, it felt far more luxurious than waiting in interminable lines only to be escorted to your seat with a mediocre view at a fanfare-filled show.
Occasionally, though, one of these shows proves worth the wait, even when you're relegated to "standing" status and forced to squint to make out all the fabrics and patterns. So I was at Calvin Klein, where Raf Simons picked up where he left off last season with a nostalgic, Americana-fueled collection.
There were silk variations on last season’s color-blocked wool tracksuits, painted denim suits, and Warhol prints on tanks, silk shift dresses, and canvas totes. And the usual hype was merited: Kaia Gerber opened was the show--and made her New York Fashion Week debut--looking like her supermodel mother’s clone in the silk variation of last season’s track suit.
In the front row, Anna Wintour was flanked by Trevor Noah and Lupita Nyong’o, who appeared to exchange numbers with a casually dressed (grey sweatshirt) and bearded Jake Gyllenhaal before the lights went down.
LIZZIE CROCKER
Meanwhile, at Adam Selman, the paper cut-out tall grasses and violets lining the runway for his spring-summer 2018 collection didn’t sway in the breeze, but they may as well have. The silhouettes of hummingbirds delicately sticking their beaks into blossoms provided a pretty picture of springtime frolicking that was amply reflected in the clothing.
Running the gamut from no-nonsense denim and flirty but bold gingham-checked patterns, the most-repeated shade was termed as “sky” in the descriptive handouts, which themselves were the same light-yet-deep hue.
The standout pieces incorporated feathers that seemed to call forth the same hummingbird frothiness, providing a frilly, but not fussy, touch of warm weather delight.
LUIS DAMIAN VERON
Maye Musk models one of many hot pink looks from Rag & Bone’s new collection. Next to her, the brand’s most devoted customer strikes a yoga pose in Liberty print jeans.
Courtesy Rag and Bone
For the first time, women’s jeans were designed to resemble the stiffer, more wide-legged versions in Rag & Bone’s men’s collections.
Courtesy Rag and Bone
Liberty prints and Prince of Wales plaid, pictured here, both nod to the designer’s British roots.
Courtesy Rag and Bone
Tracksuits were a popular theme in last season’s collection--and a trend worth betting on again this season.
Courtesy Rag and Bone
How to make gingham dramatic, a flaming orange silhouette, and snug, sexy denim at Adam Selman.
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Now you see me: T-shirt and checkered skirt at Adam Selman.
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At Adam Selman a stunning belted trench, with blades of blue grass licking at its hem, as with the runway backdrop; a grass-colored silk pajama suit was a clever marriage of summertime green with breathable layers; and a delightful sky-blue feather-and-pearl mini dress was 'Flintstones' made sexy.
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