Top, from left: Alexander Wang, Calvin Klein Collection, Marc Jacobs, Narciso Rodriguez, 3.1 Phillip Lim
Bottom, from left: Proenza Schouler, Rodarte, The Row, Victoria Beckham, Yeezy

By
Jonathan Shia

Calvin Klein Collection photography by Dan Lecca.

LAST LOOKS: BEST OF NEW YORK, FALL 2016

Those who complain that there are no good show venues in New York might have taken heart from the Fall 2016 shows, which saw designers stepping up and offering collections and settings that, through squinted eyes, could almost have passed for Europe. The city’s designers brought a hard edge to their shows, as can be seen in Alastair McKimm’s ten favorite collections below.

The spectacle of the week was, of course, Yeezy Season 3, with over a thousand models lined up at Madison Square Garden as Kanye West played tracks from his new album, The Life of Pablo. The clothes themselves marked a notable step forward for West, fleshing out his palette and range while still maintaining his athletic charge. Alexander Wang, a downtown kid who has never shied away from surprise, generated reams of it by showing against the glowing, ornate apse of Saint Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue, sending out distressed streetwear emblazoned with logos and slogans that felt very contemporary. Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez showed their latest Proenza Schouler collection at the new Whitney, with the New Jersey skyline glittering across the Hudson. They named American art of the Sixties and Seventies, and especially Frank Stella—whose Whitney retrospective closed earlier this month—as the inspiration behind designs that offered up a study of construction, process, and material.

Phillip Lim worked a Japanese inspiration into his pieces, pulling from both traditional techniques and the urban rush of Tokyo in a collection that combined a wealth of textures and tones in a powerful statement of strength. Narciso Rodriguez, known for his sharp tailoring, went looser and more casual this season, offering comfort but still maintaining his rigorous eye for cut and form. Francisco Costa went for a similar sense of ease at Calvin Klein Collection, playing with masculinity and showing prints and patterns and a series of gorgeous dresses that held glistening semiprecious stones in their cutouts.

Victoria Beckham presented the bustier as the new silhouette of the season, working checks and stripes into her sleek dresses that had a sporty appeal. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen pared everything back at The Row in a study of pure minimalism that still managed to convey a sense of warmth and welcome, along with unimpeachable luxury. Marc Jacobs, as is his wont, went all out, offering rich layers of texture, embroidery, and shape that had a dark, witchy appeal, set in a glowing white circle to a haunting soundtrack of chiming bells. Kate and Laura Mulleavy, celebrating their tenth anniversary as Rodarte, reminded the rest of New York that sometimes the best settings aren’t found, they’re made. Against a set by Alexandre de Betak of luminous fluorescent tubes set amongst piles of rocks and flowers, they showed an ornate, intricate collection that played on some of their favorite themes—power, femininity, goth, etc.—yet showed them looking vigorously ahead at the next decade to come.

1 /5
Left: Alexander Wang
Right: Calvin Klein Collection
By
Jonathan Shia

Calvin Klein Collection photography by Dan Lecca.

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