Kors' Glamour in New York
"You're a super hot female! With a million-dollar contract!" screeched the soundtrack to Michael Kors' show yesterday, as it played Gwen Stefani's single, What You Waiting For, on loop.
Although the repetition may have been tiresome, one had to give Kors credit for aptness. There are few designers who celebrate US wealth and tacky ostentation as gleefully as Kors.
At New York fashion week last season he divulged his fashion motto: "If you look like you have to dress for the weather, you look poor. A woman who wears sleeveless dresses and sandals in a snowstorm, you automatically think she's got a car and driver waiting nearby." This was said with an almost admirable lack of irony.
Yet there were plenty of warm clothes in his autumn/winter show yesterday, so perhaps even Fifth Avenue women with drivers feel the nip.
Being a Michael Kors show, though, it tended to be gigantic furs that gave the warmth. At least three raccoons must have laid down their lives just for the collars on the coats, and the voluminous white arctic fox coat made even the elfin model look like a wannabe rap star.
But these were the only supersized garments. As is almost always the case with US designers who provide the wardrobes for their country's society set, the clothes tend to be sleek, all the better to show off the handiwork of the personal trainer. Pencil skirts slicked up from below the knee to the waist, and the narrowness of waists was emphasised by cummerbunds.
But Kors does more than just suggest wealth: he likes to connote a lifestyle and the theme behind this collection was "urban sport", which means Aspen chalet weekend. So there were plenty of vaguely athletic details, such as sleeve stripes and aviator shades.
But perhaps the most remarkable thing about Kors is how disconnected from reality he appears. A gently pouffed prom dress was dubbed a "ski dress", though surely the only moguls one could take on in that would be one's husband's business partners at a dinner party.
More bizarrely, the press notes described the fur-trimmed cashmere coats as bathrobes. But in the world of Kors, perhaps even one's loungewear needs fur.
Trend watch Debutante dresses
What to look out for in the shops for autumn and winter 2005:
There's a dynasty in the White House and now the rest of America seems increasingly interested in the society world. Many American fashion magazines now cover the debutante balls in Paris and designers are on hand to provide the necessary wardrobes.
Marc Jacobs finished off his oversized collection with a series of floor-length velvet and satin dresses.
Roland Mouret featured double-layered long gowns, split open at the front to reveal another colour beneath
Even Michael Kors broke briefly away from his body-fitted style to include some more voluminous taffeta dresses
Although the repetition may have been tiresome, one had to give Kors credit for aptness. There are few designers who celebrate US wealth and tacky ostentation as gleefully as Kors.
At New York fashion week last season he divulged his fashion motto: "If you look like you have to dress for the weather, you look poor. A woman who wears sleeveless dresses and sandals in a snowstorm, you automatically think she's got a car and driver waiting nearby." This was said with an almost admirable lack of irony.
Yet there were plenty of warm clothes in his autumn/winter show yesterday, so perhaps even Fifth Avenue women with drivers feel the nip.
Being a Michael Kors show, though, it tended to be gigantic furs that gave the warmth. At least three raccoons must have laid down their lives just for the collars on the coats, and the voluminous white arctic fox coat made even the elfin model look like a wannabe rap star.
But these were the only supersized garments. As is almost always the case with US designers who provide the wardrobes for their country's society set, the clothes tend to be sleek, all the better to show off the handiwork of the personal trainer. Pencil skirts slicked up from below the knee to the waist, and the narrowness of waists was emphasised by cummerbunds.
But Kors does more than just suggest wealth: he likes to connote a lifestyle and the theme behind this collection was "urban sport", which means Aspen chalet weekend. So there were plenty of vaguely athletic details, such as sleeve stripes and aviator shades.
But perhaps the most remarkable thing about Kors is how disconnected from reality he appears. A gently pouffed prom dress was dubbed a "ski dress", though surely the only moguls one could take on in that would be one's husband's business partners at a dinner party.
More bizarrely, the press notes described the fur-trimmed cashmere coats as bathrobes. But in the world of Kors, perhaps even one's loungewear needs fur.
Trend watch Debutante dresses
What to look out for in the shops for autumn and winter 2005:
There's a dynasty in the White House and now the rest of America seems increasingly interested in the society world. Many American fashion magazines now cover the debutante balls in Paris and designers are on hand to provide the necessary wardrobes.
Marc Jacobs finished off his oversized collection with a series of floor-length velvet and satin dresses.
Roland Mouret featured double-layered long gowns, split open at the front to reveal another colour beneath
Even Michael Kors broke briefly away from his body-fitted style to include some more voluminous taffeta dresses
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