The Best of NYFW F/W16

From left to right: Suno, Alexander Wang, Opening Ceremony, Prabal Gurung, Adam Selman, Phillip Lim, and Marc Jacobs

collage created by me, with the help of photos by Vogue

I thought to myself on Thursday night, after the Marc Jacobs show, that the most wonderful time of the year was over, but then I realized -- wait, there's still three more weeks left of fashion month. Even if this is true, there's some type of magic that comes with New York Fashion Week, whether that it's the first week to start the season, or maybe that the freezing weather corresponded with the fitting cold-weather collections from the shows (or maybe they didn't correspond at all, see Alexander Wang). Nonetheless, I've never kept up with a fashion week as much as I did with this one, and I loved all of it.

Usually a few shows don't stick with me right, like Tommy Hilfiger's SS16 collection, but this week, I fell in love with every show I got a glimpse of from social media (perks of being a Z-list blogger, which I am now self-diagnosing myself of being). I had a plan before fashion month started to do my top three shows from each week, then it turned into five, then it turned into twenty, then it narrowed down into seven. So many are missing from the above picture that I wanted to review -- Tommy Hilfiger (he definitely improved from last season), Rodarte, Calvin Klein, Rag & Bone, Coach, Libertine, the list keeps going... But I wanted to only include two it-labels (Wang and Jacobs) because the newcomers, or should I just say newcomers to my own fashion palette, were the ones that blew me away. I wanted to give these collections ratings, but because they were all amazing I'd give them all perfect scores, so the fact that I included them in the first place is a rating in itself. I also noticed another thing from this week -- all the collections seemed to fit into an array of styles: a mix of edgy, goth, and even gothic; sophisticated; and those out-there collections that don't seem to fit anywhere else but deserve their own category. Let's begin...

School-girl-chic meets Twin Peaks meets clashing prints meets oversized silhouettes. That's Suno for you, at least its Fall/Winter 2016 collection. There may have been some criticisms because plaid-on-plaid just doesn't work, but I think it does more than work -- it creates this complex, sophisticated style that I love and want in my life. I can't get enough of those delicate floral prints, a touch of shimmer, and oversized anything, and Suno brought just that. They were on the top of my list mid-week, and they may still be, but then a few more days of life-changing shows came, so the competition came full force. Let's see who brought a similar look but may have beat this collection --

                                                                                            

Practical business woman (or man, just look at that androgyny) meets an autumn color scheme with lots of velvet and trousers. Phillip Lim's collection, a.k.a. the more masculine (and maybe more out-there) version of Suno's. We still see some of the same plaid patterns, and that navy pleated-midi is awfully similar to the gold one from Suno, but Lim gave off a more utilitarian style while still keeping sophistication. I loved the repetition of velvet accents and those unique leaf patterns near the end of the show (see the blouse in the 2nd image), and I really want to get myself a pair of those velvet heeled ankle boots. This is the thing that I always want from fashion week -- collections that are so different than the last one from the designer, but also so expected due to current trends and desires from consumers. And one more in my sophisticated category...

Ever since the third look appeared on the runway during the show, I fell in love with Prabal Gurung's collection, and I think the fur accessories, unfortunately real, were the items that caught my eye. (Sidenote: I am anti-fur in fashion, but I love how it looks, and anything I would buy would be faux fur, just for clarification. I can't wait until designers look to cruel-free methods for gaining the same aesthetic.) Also, a lot of the fall/winter collections were not practical for, well, the winter, but this one definitely is. I'm not sure why we're seeing so many floral, especially leaf, patterns this season, but I'm a fan of this continuity. Who says florals have to be confined to spring? Prabal Gurung brought a mix of sensible outfits with heavy-duty coats and ankle-length hems and then the more formal dresses that carry unique, yet beautiful, silhouettes and prints to create a, in simplest of terms, beautiful collection. While they carried sophistication on the runway, others brought something different that I can't necessarily put words to...

If the future consists of an '80s revival, Opening Ceremony would be designing the clothes. The mention of that decade may make people cringe, but this collection took the good from the '80s and gave it a modern, or an even further in time, twist. When I said "out-there" in the beginning of this post, I literally meant out-there, like, out-of-this-world, extraterrestrial, etcetera. I wouldn't be shocked if these models were aliens that looked like humans or just really well-developed robots. The use of shimmery fabrics (is that spandex?), retro sunglasses, the occasional futuristic print, and even the '80s-esque techno music gave this collection a 2165 feel (150 years in the future). Part of me thinks that I love this collection because of the risks they took, and Opening Ceremony has always been known for risks (ballerinas as models? Now that's innovative). But the other part may just be a fan of holographic jackets and silver spandex shirt-pant sets.

There's always comfort in the expected, and this is especially relevant in designers and expecting what to see in their next collection based on previous ones. Alexander Wang, which I am now proclaiming as my favorite NYFW designer, brings his same expected style -- edgy grunge, with a touch of the gritty and bold Wang signature. Just like last season's collection, he innovated a new style from the old, and this time it's the grunge from the '90s. If the '90s and the edge we find in 2016 had a child, it would be this collection. A mix of goth, even steampunk (those metal accents), and I hate to say it, but stoner-girl-chic all worked together to create an obvious statement by the designer. The weed leaf prints and repetition of the word "faded" may have turned an innovative collection into an obnoxious one, but for some reason, I was not annoyed at all. The use of black tights with either "girls" or "strict" written on both legs, the mohair tanks and sweaters, and overall boldness of the collection turned a cliché into a brilliant show. And maybe that's the point -- to make a statement. Wang booked a church for such an unholy collection -- sheer tops (not the angelic kind), drug references, and even stripper (pole included) icons on Ralph Lauren-esque pants only scream irony. Fashion is always more than the clothes, right? Also, I need those statement minis and denim-fur coats in my life, ASAP. 

This is Alexander Wang's collection not on drugs, better known as Adam Selman's. It included '90s grunge, similar to Wang's, but it has a darker, also more feminine side. Kind of like those housewives who killed their husbands (Chicago, right?), but instead of wearing '20s-esque fishnets and frilly dresses, they wear lace chokers and the signature Avril Lavigne eyeliner. The designer brought floor-length (yet still revealing) dresses, puffy outerwear, and shiny details with a simple color scheme of black, red, silver, navy, and more black. Selman obviously thinks black is the new black, and he even simplified the collection with all-black Converse, circa your punk phase in 9th grade. The over-the-shoulder straps and confetti-like details on a few pieces bring this uniqueness to a potentially overplayed style, so Adam Selman definitely won for day one of NYFW.

And for the finale of my post, I give you the actual NYFW finale (how fitting) -- Marc Jacobs. I had to do a project on our potential careers three years ago and we had to pick someone from the profession, and I chose Marc Jacobs, and since then, I title him my first favorite designer. I did so much research on him, I even had to connect his designs to the media, like music, culture, etcetera, so I know exactly how he works. And based off of this knowledge, this collection embodies who he is as a designer. He created avant-garde pieces with a throwback to the 19th century and the British goth era of the '80s with a touch of horror and massive platform heels. Something I would never expect in fashion, but would always expect from the Marc Jacobs himself. A revival of Dracula. A Spike-Drusilla centric Buffy episode that takes place a century earlier than usual. The Grimm version of Alice in Wonderland. A literal scene from a Poe story, excluding the creepy black cat or dead person under the floor boards. Jacobs won fashion week with this collection by including draping capes, full ankle-length skirts, and massive bows (Gucci SS16, anyone?). Speaking of Gucci, this show, including a huge, blank white room and an eerie repetition of dinging bells (with a mix of silence) gave me chills just like Gucci's show last season, including a snake-printed floor and ethereal French whispers that carried the angelic models across the runway. While Gucci's was angelic, Jacobs' was not necessarily demonic, but it was definitely dark, even scary (the makeup artists definitely did their jobs well). After reading multiple reviews on the show, there has been a unanimous opinion: that Jacobs ended a lacking-in-risks week on a refreshing note. Fashion is about risks, and the designer finally showed us what he thinks it's about -- that too much is just not enough.

All photos from Vogue, except for Phillip Lim's, which are from Elle.

Feel free to share what your favorite shows from NYFW were, and also how you felt about the shows I reviewed.

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