Piling it on: Layering is big trend on runways at NY Fashion Week

Layering is big trend at NY Fashion Week

NEW YORK — Can’t decide what to wear? Pile it all on.

Layering was a key trend at New York Fashion Week as it continued its sixth day of fall previews Tuesday, with a mix of fabrics that created a textured look. A few designers like Peter Som and Alexander Wang showed models who looked like they’d thrown on everything in the closet all at once.

Another trend was the contrasting sleeve, using a different material than the rest of the outfit, a look featured at Chris Benz and Derek Lam, among other shows.

For all that layering, you need a tissue-thin, long-sleeve T-shirt to go underneath it all. And a coat that’s a little roomier for all those layers.

RODARTE

The bittersweet drama that played out on the Rodarte runway reminded fashion insiders why Kate and Laura Mulleavy have become such a big deal in such a short time.

The theme of their collection was the hazy state of consciousness that comes between sleep and being awake. Lovely, lace-draped dresses in a light, almost dusty palette captured the feeling of vintage lingerie and wallpaper prints, but there was something weighing on them, too — a seriousness, a respect.

The chunky knits, sometimes with yarn fringe, were just on the right side of looking well loved and worn in, yet luxurious in a way that a designer collection demands.

The layers that have been so popular at New York Fashion Week were certainly on this catwalk in a Chelsea artist space, but the Mulleavys had a lighter touch because of their airy fabrics and loose-weave knits.

“The draped dresses in gauze and lace were spectacular,” said Ikram Goldman, the Chicago retailer who advises first lady Michelle Obama on her wardrobe. “The way they were manipulated and draped to perfection on the body. … They were beautiful. They were perfect.”

VERA WANG

Black — at least the way Vera Wang does it — can be light.

Wang debuted her fall collection for the editors, stylists and retailers who have gotten quite used to seeing black over the past few days, but made them seem new.

The show’s title was “The Bride Wore Black,” but Wang said in her notes she was drawn to the color (or non-color, as it may be) because it’s “a contemporary metaphor for youth, romance and sophistication ringed ever so slightly with a sense of mystery.”

She opened with a menswear-style black jacket, turned feminine with oversized organza corsages on the lapel. That set the tone for the yin-and-yang vibe of most of the outfits: a featherweight faille bolero with rosettes was paired with a wool-knit jumpsuit with a tuxedo stripe down the side, for example, and a tightly tailored Nehru jacket had sexy sheer sleeves.

THE ROW

Without the paparazzi in sight — and just a few fashion photographers perched at the end of a black wooden runway — Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen presented their collection The Row to a small group of fashion insiders.

The small show, held far away from the Bryant Park tents, seemed an indication they wanted the headlines to be about the clothes, a strategy employed by fellow camera-magnet Victoria Beckham earlier this week. The Olsens appeared only briefly at the end to take a very quick bow in front of Carey Mulligan, Chloe Sevigny, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and her French Vogue counterpart, Carine Roitfeld.

The clothes were indeed quite serious — and sophisticated. The first model wore a simple black wrap coat that was belted and black trousers with flat gladiator sandals. Most of the collection was black, which has been the norm on many catwalks at New York Fashion Week.

Adding textural interest, though, has been a trick to making all the black more interesting — and the Olsens mastered it. An A-line carriage skirt in a croc pattern was worn with a slim shirt and a delicate spaghetti-strap camisole on top. Another look featured a buttery leather corset over a flowing, asymmetrical-hem dress.

HALSTON

The shoes to fill were big and expectations high, but Halston’s creative director Marios Schwab said he tried not to think about that pressure on his debut collection for the storied label.

He can now breathe a sigh of relief: He presented a warmly received series of dresses — and a handful of other silhouettes — Monday night. Sarah Jessica Parker, who will be designing a contemporary label called Halston Heritage, turned out to see what her new colleague had done.

Two of the most attention-worthy were done in the spirit of the house’s founder, the late Roy Halston Frowick. One was a slinky red jersey with cutouts around the bustline, and the other was a super-sexy yellow halter top with open sides and back.

But there was more than the liquidlike jersey looks that made Halston a powerhouse in the 1970s and ’80s among the high-fashion crowd at Studio 54. For the woman who wears Halston in 2010, Schwab added fabrics such as neoprene, leather, cashmere and even a metallic cracked lame, used on an asymmetrical cropped jacket.

CHRIS BENZ

It seems Chris Benz drank the Kool-Aid that’s been served at New York Fashion Week, tapping into the rebel-schoolgirl look with outfits built around classic plaids, sometimes walking-short versions, and then shaking it up with bra tops and metallic biker jackets.

But Benz also spiked it with something a little extra: an adventurous attitude.

The models at his presentation Monday in an artist space wore acid-yellow and bright-purple fur mittens and trapper hats, too. A liquidlike metallic top with sweatpants pooling around the ankles and a fur vest with oversized hood, a poncho with a lame sheen and a cozy swirl-knit minidress probably would all make their way into the suitcase when Benz’s young hipster customer goes away to the “country” for the weekend.

MARC BY MARC JACOBS

Pull down those hemlines, girls.

For his younger, less expensive diffusion line, Marc Jacobs eschewed the bubbliness of past collections to deliver a ladylike silhouette and proper gentlemen’s suiting.

It was the designer’s second show of the week to mark a dramatic about-face, as his namesake line shown Monday also dropped hems and buttoned up. Perhaps with the Great Recession moving on, Jacobs was echoing the historical change in attitudes and fashion that followed the Great Depression.

The designer, arguably the most influential in the country, took a page from the 1940s for Marc by Marc Jacobs. A palette of red, black and olive echoed military themes as models marched along sternly in knit separates and jackets. Tops featured ballooned sleeves and collar ties of secretaries past, and culottes ensembles were paired with flat leather wingtips.

BEBE

Reality show stars Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian can now sell the clothes right off their backs to their fans.

The brunette sisters collaborated with fast-fashion chain bebe to offer a line inspired by pieces from the girls’ closets, a collection shown Tuesday during New York Fashion Week to another face made famous by reality TV: “Jersey Shore” diva Jenni “JWoww” Farley.

The line, which is available this month in bebe stores, consisted of basic jerseys, fitted blazers and leather separates devoid of embellishment or the company’s signature rhinestone branding. Kim Kardashian posed for cameras in one of the looks — a gray stretch mini dress under a cropped leather corset — that emphasized the assets for which she is known.

The tight and short silhouette was reiterated throughout, including spandex one-shoulder dresses with side cutouts and a stretch jersey-and-mesh tube dress so short that the model had to adjust the length mid-catwalk.

Associated Press writer Amanda Kwan contributed to this report.