It's still early days, but New York seems to be in the midst of a nineties moment this season.
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It's still early days, but New York seems to be in the midst of a nineties moment this season.
It's still early days, but New York seems to be in the midst of a nineties moment this season. The nineties belonged to Helmut Lang. And Nicole and Michael Colovos, the designers of the current iteration of the label that bears his name, appeared to be riffing on his minimalist signatures tonight. It was most direct in a pair of bright pink boxy organza slipdresses, the precise pink that Lang himself favored, but there were also flashes of Lang in an unstructured black jacket bonded to white jersey—no shoulder pads, no lining—that slouched on as easily as a button-down shirt, and another in a soft peach color, as well as in the muscle tees and perfect trousers.
Whether the riffing was intentional or not, the Colovoses weren't saying. It's not that they've avoided the house heritage until now, but the through lines have never seemed so strong. Backstage, they explained that they were looking at the work of the contemporary artist Wade Guyton, whose canvases are bisected with clean, straight lines. They reproduced Guyton's lines on a strapless linen dress with an easy, slouched-on sort of feel (prepare yourself to hear much more about slouchiness in the next few days), as well as on a strapless top and wrap skirt. Last season, their artistic reference point was Picasso, who produced a much busier collection. This one was mostly in black and white, which reinforced its pared-back appeal. "Not precious" is the vibe they said they were going for. They nailed it with flat slides in stingray and slip-on loafers constructed from perforated leather. Bags were a new addition to the lineup. Walking out there was consensus: a great collection.