turn on the bright lights

Jil Sander
Spring 2011

I'm not one for fluorescent colors, but how can you resist after you watch that?

the stills

Photo of the Moment Series
photographs by Eric Ray Davidson
The Moment
These behind the scenes photos of various shows throughout the week are sometimes more revealing than the shows themselves. Plus with hundreds of shows over the next month perhaps these can serve as a visual summary of everything we might have missed in the brief couple of minutes that constitutes a show.

P.S. Spotted: Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue exiting Barneys at Madison and 61st. Decked out in black with a slight grin on her face (maybe she found better deals than what the men's store had to offer), you can call me impressed.

the scene

What does one do in New York during early September? Fashion week, baby.

Spotted at Michael Bastian Spring/Summer 2009: NHL player and former Vogue intern Sean Avery, designer Peter Som, GQ Creative Director Jim Moore, Bergdof Goodman's Linda Fargo and Roopal Patel, Tim Motherfucking Blanks (awkward fan moment indeed), and Men's Vogue Amanda Brooks
Not Spotted: Rumored attendee Kanye West (Where were you Yeezy?)

Things I liked about a real fashion show: The early '80s dance soundtrack, the free flowing white wine, the deluge of the bad and the beautiful in the audience, and the free flowing white wine
Things I didn't like: The free flowing wine promptly ended at 7:30 when the show ended.
Things I was surprised to find: Michael Bastian has perfect skin. It's kind of scary how smooth his forehead is. Oh, and the Thom Browne exposed ankle with tapered pant look is very in this fall, or at least for the fashion conscious New York male.

More details and fashion week coverage ahead...

in the mix

I thought the collection was really underwhelming, but the throbbing, wild beat of Justice saves the day. Continuing the tradition of acclaimed music artists contributing the soundtrack to a Dior Homme show, click below to listen to the fifteen minute track Justice created for the Spring/Summer 2009 show.

copy cat

Kanye West at the Lanvin men's S/S 09 collection in Paris

It's one thing that Clive bit off my shades of gray look, but dang Kanye, you had to go and steal my shorts, jacket, summer scarf, and smart glasses look too? I guess my bag of tricks is officially empty.

milan: versace

Electric relaxation is an apt hybrid of words to describe Versace’s spring 2009 men’s wear collection. A men’s wear collection minus neckties, shirts unbuttoned to the sternum, pants that were the opposite of stovepipes, wispy summer scarves, and an overall lightness in being culminated in a redefinition, or refinement depending on how you want to phrase it, of what we think of when it comes to casual menswear. This Versace man is confident, comfortable, at ease, all qualities that are certainly attractive. Perhaps then it makes sense that Donatella dedicated this collection to “the man of the moment”, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. I’m not sure that I could see Obama sporting a tank with a screen-printed plume of smoke coiling up his abdomen, but the strength in these clothes is what people see in Obama—refreshing, cool, and powerful without waving a big stick.

Over the past few seasons at the women’s and men’s labels, there has been a relatively dramatic aesthetic shift at Versace. The new Versace ideal is someone who wants bold, streamlined clothes that exude a certain kind of purity in their subtleness and sensual tailoring. Trenches with interesting flap details, snappy little Army influenced jackets, and a white button down with a zipper slashed across the arm showed the influence of former Cloak designer and current creative contributor to the men’s wear line, Alexandre Plokhov. His strength as a tailor with a sharp edge was beautifully put to use in one button suits (Who wants to bother with more than one when you look that good?) and slim shawl collared suit jackets paired with shorts. Call it a new Casual Friday uniform, but Versace supplied the goods for men who want to look effortlessly and casually put together.

Donatella is smart enough and respectful enough not to forget the roots of the brand. The creamy color palette and electric sheen on the clothes would be perfect for any true Milanese playboy. For next spring, throw away those ties and maybe every man can have a taste of this good life Donatella promises.

vintage fashion

Do you have about 500 hours to kill on the internet? Well, you're just in luck, especially if you were a fan of the Saturday morning fashion television show, "Fashion File." For the brief time I had cable in the late '90s, I remember from time to time waking up randomly on Saturday mornings just in to stumble upon the Canadian fashion news program on E! that featured coverage of the latest fashion shows, trends, models, and of course, the vast knowledge and curiosity of host Tim Blanks. Once again, I have found "Fashion File", but this time on their website that offers an extensive library of video segments from just about every designer you can think of. Listening to Tim Blanks wax poetically about the genius of Karl Lagerfeld or Alber Elbaz is always a pleasure, but these videos call to mind the forgotten moments in fashion that were fun and subversive at the time but seem like forever ago. Tom Ford's erotica-soaked tenure at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent or the "living instillations" of Imitation of Christ made me wonder if these ideas and the people behind them would be relevant in today's fashion gauntlet. Oh well, we can just watch and enjoy. Trust me, you will watch more than one.

Click here for videos.

there's always next season

Alber Elbaz for Lanvin closed Paris fashion week, or rather fashion month, with his sublime and darkly sexy fall collection. He's a natural standout to end the dialogue of the fall collections. His statement was grand and modern in his use of manipulating and constructing fabric as well as mysterious and feminine with the inky color palette. Collections such as his, and a few others, invite those who want to watch and will appreciate an artist really thinking about design, the body, and the world. The points of view of such designers as Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga, Stefano Pilati of Yves Saint Laurent, Miuccia Prada, Raf Simons for Jil Sander, Jun Takahashi of Undercover, Christopher Kane, and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler make fashion intoxicating and tuned into something connected to beauty and truth. After absorbing their craftsmanship and thought, there's a punch-drunk feeling of surprise and satisfaction completely different from ingesting any other art form.

Breaking down the geometry and design of things that we put on our body to protect us, illicit a certain feeling or mood, or remind us of something gone by or yet to happen was the big story on many of the runway narratives for fall. You can really tell if something seems new and fresh if you're eyes get a little bigger as it inspects each look, which could be found coursing through the threads in several standout collections. It may seem like a simple notion, but when they're so much fashion out there available for us to admire and possibly own, there has to be some voices that speak with greater articulation than others for us to truly be excited each season. Take into consideration there's an undeniable recession looming and the cost of designer goods climbs a little higher each day, then it becomes a greater challenge to decide where, or if, to spend one's hard earned dollar on quality, special clothes. All of that might deter from the fantasy and appeal of constantly buying and looking at the trends in fashion, but true fashion followers must persist because fashion inspires us to keep thinking and relishing in the quiet sensation of feeling confident and comfortable with what we're wearing for the day. Every morning the hulking decision of what to wear can be reduced to a simple pleasure if you were to a take a cue from one of the many great working minds in fashion. I'm sure a woman is going to feel at ease in those sinewy Jil Sander winter coats or a bit like a Hitchcockian heroine in those Michael Kors camel coats. A woman will never feel sexier than in a Balenciaga or Naricso Rodriguez LDB, both with the appropriate air of a sexy beast and a demure urbanite. Men can never feel more masculine, despite the big trend that says otherwise, in smartly tailored suits by Duckie Brown or Nautica. Rag & Bone proposed something tougher and rougher for fall, which feels more align with how a man should look, not the twee version so many other designers tapped for inspiration.

Fortunately the collections left me with my appetite being whetted just enough. Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Jil Sander, and Proenza Schouler make you forget about the rest. Duckie Brown, Rag & Bone, and Michael Kors have my mind racing with ideas of things I want to experiment with for fall. Unfortunately we have to wait until October for the next onslaught of models, big ideas, celebrity front row gawking, and of course, the clothes.

hussein chalayan

Seeing is always believing at Hussein Chalayan.

yves saint laurent

One show that I regret not looking at too closely from last season was Stefano Pilati's star-filled and mannish show for Yves Saint Laurent. Bare jewel tones and blazers missing sleeves with strong shoulders offered an interesting and effortless simplicity. Oh, and those YSL logo shoes and star accents that glittered were fun too. The knife sharp cuts and mannish tailoring were present for the fall collection, but it was harder, stronger, and better.

Normally I think it's terribly distracting when a designer sends a slew of models out in matching wigs and makeup. It makes them look less human, and less important because clothes are meant to be worn by people, not plastic looking hangers. However, there was a solidarity, a strength in numbers vibe if you will, in the black, blunt bowl cuts and noir lipstick. They almost looked like an army of Peggy Moffit look-a-like's with '80s wrap around shades. Once your eye moves from that shock, it will only be met with more things to rouse and intrigue. I love a good tweed and here it falls every so sharply in the form of coats, jackets, and pants. The silhouette of a belted waist, structure on top, and a flow of movement on bottom was consistent and very feminine. A charming charcoal coat with flecks of color and a suggestion of a cerulean blue beneath with fingertipless gloves and tall boots is an uncompromising look, but there is comfort in that fabric and texture, and a bit of hopefulness in the color that is more associated with summer and someplace hot. This was a built on collection of coats and outerwear, which is refreshing when it boggles the mind at the wispy nature of some other designer's creations for fall. It does get cold somewhere in the world, despite the effects of global warming, and Yves Saint Laurent will be there to offer you cozy single button coats, '80s toppers , and jackets that flow after the zips stops at the waist. Clean lines and color blocking ruled the dresses, even one going into that territory that's not alway the vulgar but just enough to titillate.

Shape and cut seems to be interesting French fashion more so than the other cities that have presented so far. Too bad for those cities because Pilati is onto something with his '80s-futuristic-everyday-femme-warrior.

balenciaga

When looking at a Balenciaga collection there's always a superbly executed high wire act being demonstrated with each seam, cut, and focused idea. The clothes always have such an interesting interplay between ideas, history, and Nicolas Ghesquière's own personal tastes. The balance between something hard/soft, sexy/demure, high/low shot, old/new, fantastical/wearable, becomes a form of fashion that is totally new and unseen. Ghesquière is one of the few tastemakers and true thinkers in fashion that gets us to think differently about what fashion means and what it will look like in the streets. Not everyone can afford the luxury of Balenciaga, but his influence is everywhere in those modish coats you see at Gap or H&M or those knockoff bags available at your local Target or Forever 21. His reach and touch is a sign of someone great. His fall collection did not disappoint. The provocation and freshness was there in a collection that was take on a perversely beautiful idea of bourgeois eroticism. Exposed flesh and a bit of kink made for one of the best collections of the season, if not the very best.

Last season, Nicolas Ghesquière sent out a controversial line up of models with slicked back hair, murderous gladiator heels, and armor like minidresses covered from seam to hemline in exploding flower prints. Fashion followers are still reeling from that show in all of its romantic rigidity. The look was too total for some or too constricting for a variety of body types. Understandable, but the runway is a forum for discussion and mood for Ghesquière. The hemlines, floral prints, and accessories will remain and bare their imprints for the season to come, and that is his genius. His prescient and engaging mind spells out the trends before the language is even created. For fall Ghesquière recreated midcentury looking architectural shapes with little black dresses that looked as if he took a pair of scissors and exposed his favorite parts of the female form. Pants were slim enough for the '80s with velvet tops swirling around the bust like a big paint stroke. Shoulders on jackets and coats were rounded to a slim point just above at the wrist. Delicate diamonds created an interesting frisson against the slick and naughty PVC coats. There were sportier pieces that had a wetsuit effect without looking too harsh. The last few looks consisted of Japanese screen prints but cut with such strong precision it could have been done by a laser.

With a collection with such vigor and vitality, it's almost a challenge for everyone else to catch up. Ghesquière's mind is essential to fashion continuously evolving and shifting us in new directions.

junya watanabe

I love when you can see a designer really thinking about how clothes relate to the body. The act of wearing clothes is a tacit agreement, creating a bond that extends to how you feel beneath the clothes and what you project on the outside. Junya Watanabe's fall collection was a very modern take on draping, something when done the right way, or at the very least an exciting way, can look almost couture in that with each fold and fall of the fabric it fits differently on every body. Each look rigorously worked that idea with a focus on the body and never once abandoning it.

The models, or figures rather, in the show were striking with their faces concealed with opaque headwraps and bulbous things poking out from beneath. The trend of veiling the face, a big a few seasons back, immediately connotes something about silencing or beheading women, only to use them their for their bodies, but here it doesn't come across as violent or misogynistic. It appears Watanabe wants us to look at the clothes and not be worried about the big beauty trends of the season. What is there on the body is fantastically draped in a myriad of ways, some that are familiar and others that are not. The smoky grays that were the color basis of the collection looked as if smog breezed up the body. It's an odd effect, which may make the models look like apparitions, but the eye goes immediately to the craftsmanship of clothes that slink and slither around the body. It wasn't all fluid lines and drapery, there were strong and structured peacoats and blazers paired with elongated skirts and pants, all in that urban gray and black. Gray and black are interesting colors because they're not as vibrant as obviously shocking colors in the crayon box, and yet there is a life to them that feels very relevant. The latter part of the collection blossomed with a smattering of flower prints splashed across the draped dresses with the model's faces finally exposed. The narrative and evolution of thought was so strong and evocative in this collection that you wish other designers, especially American designers, pushed the perimeters of fashion so hard and splendidly as Watanabe achieved in this collection.

undercover

As any great artist should, Jun Takahashi pondered several questions about the state of fashion in his fall collection for Undercover. Each looked seemed to be a walking question mark in search of the meaning of tailoring, sportswear, American streetwear, and of course, the future. I feel like Paris fashion is the most adept at looking at fashion in the future. Where will it be? Who will buy it? Who will design it? Such abstractions may seem pretentious for fashion, but we are what we wear, and why not ask questions, especially when they are so thoughtfully and oddly dazzling at Undercover.

The hooded sweatshirt, unlike any other article of clothing, has had a tremendous effect on how we define youth in the 21st century. In a world run rampant by man and woman-children, post-collegiates who don't want the responsibility of becoming their parents, and major fashion trends aimed at the tween set, the hooded sweatshirt has become a bit of a symbol for those of us who never want to grow up and want to wear something that comfortably reminds of what we would wear to play on the monkey bars. Ellen Page's entire wardrobe in "Juno" consisted of a variety of hoodies and Michael Cera clamored to his during his would-be first time in "Superbad." Grown up fashion magazines, more so men's magazines, tell us how to incorporate them into our work wardrobe. Michael Kors and Juicy Couture, among many other young, trendy labels, have started offering hoodies in cashmere and other luxe fabrics. Takahashi played with the concept of the hoodie in this collection, but here it was exaggerated to the ankles or done in fabrics you wouldn't expect. Puffer jackets, baggy trousers, and bulky sweaters are normally found on your average tenth grader, but here it was chic and something completely new. There's a certain comfort in those clothes that evoke something traditional, but the Daryl Hannah in "Blade Runner" makeup and coneheads on the models looked as if an alien from the distant future transported to a local high school and co-opted the new styles. The outerwear was especially strong with interestingly and intricately layered looking blazers, coats and a baby blue motorcycle jacket immersed under fur shoulders and straps across the bust. For such a futuristic show it never veered into something too austere or avant garde. Pick apart each look and there's something great and uniquely wearable along the way. If you're going to pay the price, you might as well get the greatest bang for you buck.

The idea of sportswear in relation to youth culture was done to death in New York without much precision or mature thought. Here it looks fresh and as if what we've been wanting to see has finally landed.

prada

I love it when you can see a designer working through a single idea for a collection. To some that connote a one dimensionality, but there is nothing simple about Miuccia Prada's fall collection. Lace, S&M, death--it was all there and then some. Prada really thinks about women in context to what clothes project about gender, power, and sexuality. This season there was a slight elegiac tone but it was perverse and no way completely sad or dead on arrival. As the summer turns into fall the leaves change and the air gets colder, and in a way, the world around us dies a little bit. For fall, Prada presented clothes fit for a funeral, minus the somber, bloodless sensation one gets at such an occasion. These clothes have a coy, almost grandma-ish flair, but a strong scent of sex, which is always a pleasure for Prada to put on display.

The collection is more about details, if you ask me. What do we immediately think of when we think of black lace: a veil for a funeral, Victoria's Secret, or something that tickles the feverish fetishist in all of us? That was all true to some degree in the inherent transparency of the lacy collection, which was sexy in theory, but the just below knee length that most of the coats and dresses came in, that is typically for older women, didn't come across as a Victoria's Secret commercial. Black, nude, baby blue, and shades of orange were dominate throughout, with the nude and baby blue showing through the lace. These are colors that I think of as being wistful and plain. There was nothing plain about the severe hair and thick eyebrows on the models that made them look as tough as those hard looking boots and cuff bracelets. The shoes had a slight melancholy tone as bits of leather seem to fall away from the shoe, as if to imply that everything dies, even designer heels. The perversity in the shoes existed in stacked collars, lots of buttons, and see through dickies paired over button down blouses. The caged in feeling was present in her menswear collection in January, but at the time she said she was punishing men for the hoops women have to jump through to dress themselves, thus giving the buttons in the back of their shirts and cummerbunds that dipped into pants giving the illusion of a thong protruding. The covered up look for women seemed to be less about punishment than about being a woman in mourning choosing not to show everything, with a slight desire for something lustful to return after the passing of her love.

For a $6 billion business you would think Prada would be concerned about wearability, but it seems more and more that the presentation of her clothes is an open space for the ideas that brew around in her mind. If things progress in this clean, sexy direction, she can keep thinking out loud as much as she wants.

bottega veneta

A less is more approach doesn't always signify "minimalism." Tomas Maier has been slowly but surely building the once accessories brand, Bottega Veneta, into a design house that has more to offer than leather goods. His aesthetic has been loyal to those who were fans of the bags years ago, grown-up women with strong taste and a need for something simple and luxurious. That subtle touch reverberated in every look in his fall collection that was all about monochromatic and a long, feminine silhouette.

The first couple of looks promised some unique accouterments on the outerwear. Folds of fabric were constructed to create a coat with texture and a density that resembled those shaggy rugs found in most dorm rooms, but it was chic when belted and paired with matching blueberry boots and purple bag. The muted jewel tones are refreshing in contrast to last season's beige parade that appeared lifeless and would wash out most. The color continued in cocktail dresses in shades of grass, tomato, and grape, each with matching hosiery and accessories. I always thought black and gray were the only colors one could do an entire monochromatic look and not look like a big crayon, but the use of color was so effortless in this collection. Most of the dresses were unadorned and looked as if the soft fabrics had been poured around the body. A leather trench and wool peacoat stood out in all of the after five cocktail dresses. I wouldn't go as far to say they looked like ladies of the night, but the mussed hair and bourgeois beauty of those clothes implied something mysterious beneath those coats. With that in mind it may be odd to say that there is something for every woman in this collection. Its accessibility is its strength, but thankfully the simplicity is not its weakness. How much sexier can Isabeli Fontana get in a form fitting amethyst evening gown that very lightly falls off her shoulders and clings to her curves? Now that's worth cutting through the embellishment.

jil sander

Milanese fashion and minimalism may not seem like an appropriate pairing, but Raf Simons season after season redefinition of what minimalism construes at Jil Sander has shown that in a town of full on fashion, the bare necessities can be just as provocative and chic. There is something so sensual about removing embellishments and things that distract to reveal a blankness. This blankness should not be confused with nothingness because Simons' eye for detail and silhouette entails an infinite range and makes you find all sorts of surprises and interesting things that can drawn you into his designs. For fall it was a minimal palette--black and gray--but there some great pieces along the way that resonate and prove that Simons is successfully evolving Jil Sander.

For his menswear collections, Simons has more so experimented with patterns and varying textures. For this season the looks for women finally had a newness in terms of their texture that is typically found in his menswear. Simons' fluid take on sexuality and his attitude towards androgynous dressing is just as much apart of his menswear tradition as it is for women and it was great to see him use some of his menswear ideas for women. The dresses and coats were so simple and flattering in their shape that almost any woman could wear them. Each look appeared to be something familiar, but each bore the impression of a designer consciously thinking and honing the execution of that familiarity. If he's giving us black and gray, it comes in the form of superb tweeds that look like the silent snow on a television screen. Soft and feminine shift dresses, collars that bloomed around the neckline, and a dark, lithe leg evoke a mute Monica Vitti wafting in her own ennui in some Antonioni film, but there was a slight futuristic austerity in those coats and tucked gowns that reminded me something David Bowie might have worn in "The Man Who Fell to Earth." Simons' thought process is what separates him from most designers. The references are not as obvious as the ones I just named because his genius is his ability to look at color, silhouette, and tailoring that results in something powerful and boldly sexy.

christopher kane

The overflow of designers and collections at New York Fashion Week can lead to state of fatigue that can result in a week pause until the Milan collections. That's a mistake because London has become an interesting mecca for designers trying to push fashion as far as it can go. At times I find it to be a hipster parade of costumes (see Henry Holland), but Christopher Kane's fall collection was tight, loose, and very focused. The thread of the paillette beading was there in almost every look, or the idea of something circular, but it was a balance between something innately glamorous and utterly modern that made it a standout amidst the fray.

Kane initially broke out on the London fashion scene as an heir to a Versace look--very bright, very body conscious sexy. He even had Donatella's approval, but in recent seasons he's loosened up the shape without forgetting the body. For all rigorous beading and intense leather accents, there was a softness in the English Rose primness of a jacket and skirt set or an exaggerated cable knit turtleneck. The look was tough and sensual when leather pants became the lean steam for the silhouette on the bottom and sheer bits of fabric exposed flashes of flesh here and there. The short beaded shift dresses reminded me of Audrey Hepburn in the final scene of "Two for the Road", but felt new with panels of floaty material falling over the dresses. The neutral color palette was sedated and necessary in a collection where so much emphasis was put on construction and subtle embellishment. A sense of movement in the evening looks were unique and achieved the effect of smoke pluming around the body.

There was something to look at and find more surprising in each look. It's a hard act as a young designer when each collection is more crucial than the next, but Kane's fall collection showed a strength and a point of view worth watching season after season.

and so it ends...

How to close New York Fashion Week? Kim Gordon swaying about on stage is a good start. For his fall collection Marc Jacobs continued to redefine what an American fashion show can mean. It's almost at performance art level with college marching bands, the show beginning in reverse, and set designs inspired Bertolucci films all being incorporated into shows past. What does American fashion mean? What does it mean right now? How is it related to celebrity, art, sex, women, men? He's always thinking and is never short on spectacle. Last season's deconstructed boudoir mood was as infamous as its two hour delayed start time. It was polarizing, controversial, and some are still thinking about and talking about it, and isn't that the sign of a great artist? That need for provocation and redefinition continued to his fall presentation that was more somber and straightforward, which can be his way of maintaining his taste for the rebellion.

To understand and embrace Jacobs it's best to look at his aesthetic as a whole. Last season it was flash and sex, this season it's conservatism and punk. In 2007, spring was Ali Baba and fall was "Last Year at Marienbad." The thread throughout lies in the a paradox between the enfant terrible and the prim, which fits the puritanical American sensibility when it comes to sex. Jacobs gets what bubbles beneath and is able to season after season gives us something new and all his own. This season it was bathrobe coats, feathered mohawk hats, wide corduroy trousers, and dropped waists. It's a challenging silhouette, but I suppose last season's shredded dresses with exposed undergarments wasn't exactly for everyone either. Colors drained of their vibrancy to a pallor dominated the collection, but pops of pumpkin, silver, and garnet reared their heads in places. Texture could be found in popcorn sweaters, velvet evening dresses, and cashmere coats. It was devoid of something overtly referential, which can be refreshing when so many other designers go for that. It was "calm" and "casual" according to Jacobs. That they were, but a collection so diametrically opposed to last season is anything more than "uninspired" as Jacobs claimed; it's as gutsy as the last.

In their totality the New York collections were slightly unimpressive. One does have to admit their isn't a dearth of talent, especially when it comes to the emerging designers, but many of the collections were lackluster and without something interesting to say. The shows that were stronger were built on fit, construction, texture, and color--all things that mark any solid collection. Many designers got tripped up when the foundations of their collections were built on "a woman in the countryside", the cool girl as defined by an ex-model, or Kurt Cobain. I'm not a woman, but I think women look their best when they're wearing something comfortable, something with movement, and something that flatters and flounces about their shape. Proenza Schouler, Threeasfour, Costello Tagliapietra and Narciso Rodriguez get the female form and adorn them in such sexy, modern ways. The resurrection of Halston was one of the most unflattering collections of the week with models drowning in fabric or pants that clung too tightly. I love minimalism, but there should be some control in the proportions. (i.e., poor Irina Lazareanu) Michael Kors' Hitchcock heroines were memorable as were Rodarte's blood thirsty fairies.

The menswear collections were varied as well. The man-boy aesthetic seems like it's here to stay and the one collection where it was apparent but done really well was Duckie Brown. Great shades of gray and aubergine and the proportion of long shirt, short jacket are things I will try for fall. Michael Kors sent out a solid menswear collection with his Cary Grant figures in nerdy glasses and incredible turtlenecks. Rag & Bone was an early standout of the week with their dark take on "Blade Runner" meets Victorian hero.

There was so much range personality in the best shows of the week that it gives the fashion conscious faith in American fashion. However, one can't help but wonder what the Europeans have in store.

zac posen

Sadly this was the only noteworthy moment of Zac Posen's Minnie Mouse inspired fall collection:

"Oh my god, she's fashion roadkill!"--Stanford Blatch, "Sex and the City"

michael kors

I chose not to review the Thom Browne show because to me the spectacle he presents is so laughable and bloated with big ideas that I have no words for what he calls "fashion." I like him less season after to season because his clothes are revolutionary in how the modern, fashion learned man wants to dress, but he distracts with the over the top histrionics. He is consistent in his tailoring and adoration of midcentury Americana. Another American designer known for slight theatrics and a twinkle in his eye, interpreted this same idea but did it better and more on target with the kind of clothes that a real man would want to wear. Enter Michael Kors and his mashup of Hitchcock and AMC's "Mad Men." I'm surprised most menswear designers didn't go into this direction for fall. It's a hot new show that is known and praised for its style and canonization of early '60s pomp. This period has been referenced to death, but it's refreshing in contemporary American men's fashion when a designer wants men to look like Men.

Every decade eventually comes back into the fashion conscious and Kors used a time period that is specific in its tailoring, attitude, and flair. One could argue that perhaps Kors is drawing parallels from that time and our current state of affairs. The early '60s had promise and change on the horizon, which not far off from where America stands now. However, judging from the glee that Kors's designs typically exude, this collection wasn't about heady issues plaguing the world, but instead dressing really well. These clothes look like something you would wear for martinis after work or for escorting a bright young thing to a deb ball. Impeccably chic and slightly nebbish with their thick glasses, this is a working man for the times. Never slovenly or disheveled, each look was more pristine and polished in its execution. Warm turtlenecks in shades of moss and purple, great coats, and of course, lacquered shoes minus socks painted the picture of the established man. The use of gray was my favorite. The gray topper with black top lapel, the gray pinstripe suit, and the gray cardigan are all pieces you want to wear for fall. The finale of Cary Grant-esque tuxedos looked super masculine and cool. Man-boys and androgynes need not apply.

All of this sheen and love affair of a time gone by is enthused optimism. Times are dour as is, so leave it to Kors to uplift and reminds us what it means to look fix up and look sharp.