NEW YORK — You don't need to be buttoned-up to be the boss.
The styles shown Wednesday as New York Fashion Week neared its end showed women softening their edges — but keeping their confidence. At Michael Kors, the models resembled a secretary pool from the 1970s that had since moved into the corner office. Those bow blouses now have a luxury coat and handbag to go with them.
Gone are the minimalist, sharp-edged looks shown on so many runways for fall. There are looser, less restrictive outfits for spring that are more soft and feminine, but still grown up.
“You know it’s funny, last fall we had this very sharp, strong, urban collection, which really was for me this reaction to how fast life has gotten,” Kors said backstage before his show. “But sometimes I think life is a little too fast. And when we go out to dinner put your phone down, put your BlackBerry down, have a conversation. Write a thank you note, a real one. Walk down the street in the summer when the weather gets warm and wear something that catches the wind.”
Oscar de la Renta showed it’s possible to be feminine and still feel like you own the room. Vera Wang softened up her look with fabric petals. Gilles Mendel’s collection started with an ingénue who grows in confidence and becomes a woman.
“She’s strong, she appreciates quality, she loves clothes. I like a celebration of this woman,” Mendel said at his J. Mendel show.
With a palette that includes mint and blush tones and softer blouson shapes, spring styles are for a woman who’s not afraid to wear a pink dress to the boardroom.
Even the bra tops appearing on so many runways are being paired with palazzo pants, not skinny jeans, making them almost — almost — office-appropriate.
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MICHAEL KORS
Kors offered scarf-neck georgette blouses with the bow undone, a whisper light wool georgette pleated skirt in “banker” gray and a crisp white trench to top it off. There was also a sand-colored suede trench. Good thing his muse can make decisions.
A ticking-stripe boyfriend shirt was worn with denim shorts and a wrap made of white fox — yes, summer fur — with an unexpected stripe lining.
He had some moments that seemed 1970s inspired, with disco studs on slinky dresses with full hemlines and palazzo pants with bra tops.
“The challenge is to have romance for everyday life,” Kors said, “and how do you have charm in everyday life?”
A good place to start is smiling models, and Kors had those. Karolina Kurkova, Frankie Rayder and Karen Elson are among the catwalkers who make infrequent runway appearances, but always seem to turn up for Kors.
MARCHESA
Pearls were still being sewn on the showstopping red carpet looks an hour before Marchesa’s show, but the audience would never have known the frenzy.
When it came time for models to come down the runway in an elegant space at the New York Public Library, the delicate dresses floated with ethereal calm.
Some gowns had pearls, others butterfly appliques — and some had both. There was more of a light lingerie feel to the silhouettes than big sculptural pieces designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig have turned out in seasons’ past.
The inspiration, according to Craig, is a Victorian-style curiosity case, where people would display treasures such as butterflies and birds.
Chapman said, “We were thinking about the romance of it and the idea of collecting all these different things and putting them together. So then we … came to the idea of, you know, old pieces of lingerie mixed with Irish laces mixed with bird motifs, and so it’s a melting pot of ideas but done in a very relaxed way.”
This isn’t the fashion show to see what everyone will be wearing. It’s the show to see what Hollywood lovelies will wear to big events.
Predictions? The opener, a powder-blue lingerie top with a gold, metallic lace embroidered skirt, and the finale gown with an empire waist, gold lace bra top and blush tulle skirt with rose ribbon flowers will be on the red carpet soon.
NANETTE LEPORE
Lepore thinks we’re emerging from an edgier, harsher period into a new Romantic era. In fashion, anyway. And so her designs are full of what she calls “a softness, a sexiness, a boudoir feeling, a neo-Romanticism.”
Her preview was one of those collections that made fashionistas happy: Pretty, flouncy, colorful, wearable. Her emphasis on softness came through in the very first garment — a pair of silky shorts with a flouncy ruffle, in a blush color but with a white stripe.
Lepore’s colors went from eye-popping, as in a bright poppy red and a crisp aqua, to subtle, as in a daffodil color akin to a minty green, and that pale blush. She also favored a floral print in many garments, including a distressed style that she said modernizes the look while keeping the softness.
NARCISO RODRIGUEZ
There wasn’t much on the runway, and that’s intended as a compliment. Just take a look at the white wool-silk coat or hammered-satin sheath.
They were, by definition and design, simple, elegant and chic.
Rodriguez is never much of an over-offender of bells, whistles and gimmicks, but he turned out a spring collection of pared-down, well-cut, wearable clothes — or they would be if the hemlines were a bit longer.
“I want you to leave here saying, ‘I want the clothes,’ ‘I want those shoes,’ ‘I love that dress,’” Rodriguez said. “Sometimes fashion is made for fantasy … but I want to dress women.”
Rodriguez didn’t bow to the trend of a looser shape; his silhouettes were trim and unfussy, his signature. They weren’t constricting or boring, though.
He used the graphic play of black and white to his advantage, opening the show with a shorts suit that had white wool on the shoulders, a black laminated inset on the bodice and black laminated wool shorts.
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