Talk of the Tents

Designer Cynthia Rowley chose 5 Beekman St. in Manhattan for her Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Spring 2013 presentation, a grand but abandoned building with flaking walls and floors of elaborate balconies leading up to a glass and iron skylight ceiling.

Confetti fell from above throughout the presentation, bringing the space back to life and mirroring the shimmery fabrics on the models, as if...

Designer Michael Kors had a lot to celebrate Thursday night. His Spring 2013 show at New York Fashion Week went off without a hitch the day before, and his collaboration with fashion photographer Claiborne Swanson Frank was premiering at his Madison Avenue store.

“We worked on the show for almost a year,” Kors told Newsday, “so every time I feel like an expectant dad. It came together exactly...

Calvin Klein was Fashion Week’s closer on Thursday afternoon, as Francisco Costa presented one of his edgiest collections to date. The primarily black and white show opened with a black matte satin dress that revealed a highly structured conical bustier, not nearly as extreme as that famously pointed Madonna number, but a look that made you sit up and take notice.

The clothes appeared somewhat...

TV personality-turned-designer Whitney Port showed her Whitney Eve spring 2013 collection Wednesday during New York Fashion Week, said to be inspired by crown jewels.

The collection featured stone-like prints and shades of blue, green, pink and brown. Port found what she liked and stuck with it, mixing and matching three major prints and color schemes throughout the show with little variety...

Berets, bolero hats, hand-tooled belts and serapes were the accoutrements to Ralph Lauren’s stunning show at the downtown Skylight Studio Thursday morning.

Accessories come first, because they really established the vibe here: an artsy Bohemian spirit with a Spanish flair. It was luxe, textural and powerful, conjuring a woman with a sense of adventure and style.

The first look featured...

Marchesa journeyed to India in the most literal sense on a loooong runway set in Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Station. Program notes explained that designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig drew inspiration from the spirit of India in the 1960s as captured by The Beatles’ experience with the Maharishi.

The collection of brightly colored paisleys — chartreuse, garnet, fuchsia and teal...

Gilles Mendel delivered a gorgeous bouquet of abstract floral prints to his runway Wednesday afternoon, that, while truly feminine, did not take away from that subtle undercurrent of high luxe edge that is his signature.

Inspired by photographs of the Kawachi Fuji garden in Japan, wisteria, water lily and tiger lilies were central themes. Airy, elaborately constructed chiffon pleated tea-length...

The Proenza Schouler boyz sure can pick ‘em — the location for their fashion show, held Wednesday night at a dilapidated, abandoned building near Wall Street, seemed right out of a movie. A horror movie, or slasher pic — let’s just be clear. The crumbling walls, dim interior and rusted, wrought-iron rails gave an edgy, urban and dangerous feel to the proceedings from the start. And we hadn’t even...

The Anna Sui girl of seasons past — dressed in sweet and perky-print babydolls and prairie skirts — has got a bit of a ‘tude this season. Punk rock comes into play in a big way for this collection, from head (pink and turquoise hair) to toe (ripped fishnet stockings). Of course, this is Sui . . . so what could be dark or harsh is still playful and light.

Her standard print-mixing is there...

Reed Krakoff may have felt a little more pressure than usual, what with this being his first runway show since winning the CFDA’s coveted accessory designer of the year award in June. It’s fair to say he has a way with handbags — just ask any of the women with the unsightly drool stains standing outside his shop.  But the man who helped revive Coach — and who started his own eponymous brand...