Flair lights up runways at NY Fashion Week

NEW YORK: In a world of globalization where any successful clothing design is quickly copied and mass marketed, designers like those starring in New York Fashion Week want that little extra wow to make their mark.

Or, in the case of Prabal Gurung on Saturday, a lot of extra wow.

As the first days of the Autumn-Winter 2011 collections got underway at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan, Gurung, who was born in Singapore and raised in Nepal, came up with a show stopper.

A new darling of US fashion, Gurung wowed the fashionistas with a glamorous, richly created collection that combined complex techniques and cuts.

Far from the buttoned-down simplicity long promoted by American creators, including Gurung last season, he mixed racy accents of the 1930s with the luxury of the 19th century, bringing a flamboyant and over-the-top femininity.

Draped dresses with open bustiers in a deep, sensuous red, feathers, lace and broken-pattern stockings visible through long slits combined with stunning effect, the redness of it all set off by heavy black leather belts.

Gurung's coats reflected the same romantic burst, some in fur, others flannel, with wide sleeves, ostrich feathers and silver fox fur. Often the coats saw a mix of furs, one of them blending astrakhan, fox, goat hair and mink.

"No one needs another cashmere sweater. What people are looking from me is something that is special," Gurung told the New York Times fashion blog.

After launching his label in 2009 Gurung has seen heady success, being picked out by first lady and growing fashion icon Michelle Obama, actress Demi Moore, and TV queen Oprah Winfrey.

His formula cunningly combines glamour with a nod in the direction of older -- and richer -- women.

His muse, he told the Times, is not some winsome starlet but none other than Miss Havisham, the wealthy, ghostly character of Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations," who perpetually wore the dress of her long-ago cancelled wedding.

Why? Because "she was rich, heartbroken and crazy."

Ahead of Gurung came another Asian-American prodigy, Jason Wu, who made his own assault on the typically practical-looking US fashion cannon, epitomized by the sportswear look.

Wu, showing on Friday, sent out models in opulent, gold-accented designs with the catwalk set lined with gilded mirrors. Lace, rather than the severe pencil skirt style popularized in the hit TV series "Mad Men," led the charge.

This season's tendency toward more complexity appears to go along with a campaign to make more of men's fashion. Where couturiers might ordinarily treat men as an after-thought, this time they are organizing separate shows on the same catwalks featuring the women's collections.

DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger have already shown Autumn-Winter 2011 collections and a Calvin Klein men's wear show is planned Sunday, right after Donna Karan's women. (AFP)

Confident NY Fashion Week kicks off

NEW YORK: New York's Autumn-Winter Fashion Week kicked off Thursday in New York with designer clothing houses and the luxury sector feeling well heeled in a resurgent economy.

Putting the threadbare days of the global recession behind them, global fashionistas began gathering at Manhattan catwalks as earnings reports pointed to renewed good times.

Italy's Prada announced turnover of 2.04 billion euros in 2010, up 31 percent on the previous year. Hermes, Ralph Lauren, Levi's and other pret-a-porter labels also saw an upswing, mostly thanks to Asian-based consumers.

Prada alone saw sales in Asia rise by 48 percent over the year, the industry publication Women's Wear Daily reported.

At Lincoln Center, home of the New York fashion weeks, Asian fashionistas had a big presence, with South Korean, Japanese and Chinese bloggers, journalists and clients taking shelter from freezing cold outside.

In what is a tradition now, BCBG Max Azria opened proceedings, displaying next year's fall colors of mustard, Bordeaux and grey, with white dots bringing definition to otherwise sheer bodysuits.

Long looks -- sometimes with long slits to show off long legs -- came in crepe dresses with pleats and ending in white turtleneck bodies. The preview also featured fur-lined flannel, ready for next year's cold season.

Even if access to the shows themselves remains highly restricted, fashion lovers can take advantage of the now nearly standard live streaming on the Internet of most collections.

The official calendar announces the broadcast of runway action, in contrast to last year when just a few designers took part in the experiment and most shows only appeared online hours after the event.

Broadcasts appear on labels' houses, their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

Following BCBG came Korean-American Richard Chai, a former collaborator with Marc Jacobs, also showing long lines and pleated schoolgirl skirts.

Fashion Week, as always, is as much about the people as what they wear, and this year the father of fashion bloggers, Bill Cunningham of the New York Times, sees himself in the limelight.

The photographer, famous for extravagant snaps of fashionistas on the streets of New York, will be the subject of a documentary "Bill Cunningham New York" out March 16.

Meanwhile, green was the new black at an environmentally minded New York design school.

Students at the Parsons The New School for Design have come up with "zero waste" fashion, a pun on the controversial popularity on catwalks of skeletal, zero-size models.

"The goal was to create an organic garment with no scraps," said Janelle Abbott, 21, who was a finalist in the student exhibition organized jointly with Loomstate, an eco-friendly label.

Timo Rissanen, 35, assistant professor in Fashion Design and Sustainability, said the average wastage in clothes making is 15 percent. Although recycling is possible, it is also costly.

The idea of "zero waste is as old as clothing," he said. "The Japanese kimono is zero waste, the old underwear in 19th century Europe was mostly zero waste, and American Indians used everything too. It's the industrial revolution which is the cause of the huge waste."

What's hard is making the clothes beautiful as well as virtuous.

"It is very easy to do ugly zero waste," Rissanen said. (AFP)