Talk of the Tents

Outdoorsy types and fashion lovers collided on Michael Kors' ruggedly elegant runway at his Wednesday morning show where rustic yet swanky outerwear pieces starred. Offerings ranged from red-and-black checked blanket coats to striped ponchos to gigantic alpaca fringed sweater coats (one of these the biggest coat we’ve ever seen, ever) to fur…and lots of it, including coyote and fox. Quite frankly,...

In some ways, this season’s Marc by Marc Jacobs line—shown Tuesday afternoon at the New York State Armory—is a younger, fledgling version of the Marc Jacobs collection revealed Monday night.

There are voluminous dresses that puff out from empire waists, similar to the exaggerated hip silhouette in the higher-end line. And there’s a touch of sparkle, courtesy of Lurex sweaters and lamé separates.

But...

French-born designer Sophie Theallet has been making a name for herself on the American fashion scene ever since she moved to New York, launched her own label (in 2007) and soon after won the coveted CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award.

Celebs—and a certain First Lady with a penchant for colorful prints—quickly fell in as regular customers. Michelle Obama, in particular, seems drawn to Theallet’s...

The Narciso Rodriguez Fall 2012 collection seems to be one of extremes—pieces are either sleek, smooth and almost inflated with air, or slashed, slit and jagged-edged, revealing warm pops of color (russet, Bordeaux, tangerine).

The very first item on the runway, a chartreuse bonded wool coat, falls into the former category, the texture like virgin snow, not a wrinkle or crinkle, and with a...

Naeem Khan took Matt Damon and his wife Luciana, Padma Lakshmi, Kristen Chenowerth and close to 1,000 other audience members on a visit to his native country at his Tuesday afternoon show where his exotic collection of sparkling paisleys, metallic swirls and geometric prints were inspired, said notes, by “the decadence and the dust of India.”

Here, less was not more. There were round mirrored...

Vera Wang mentions nothing of time travel.  Her program notes discuss the virtues of gray (a prominent shade in this collection), the long leggy silhouette, the glimpses of skin.

But the soundtrack is the first hint that there’s something…futuristic going on here.  The “music” includes weird static-y beeps and mechanical tones, like something out of “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Then...

Joan Rivers strolled out onto the runway seconds before the Badgley Mischka show on Tuesday morning prompting loud cheers and applause from the audience. And that may’ve been enough excitement for one show, except it was only the beginning.

Wild-haired models wore mostly embellished-to-the-hilt gowns in the tones of a black-and-white film – pewter, jet, platinum -- that were simultaneously...

Tory Burch set up such a captivating tale in her program notes at her Tuesday morning show. It’s all about a nice, prim girl, under the spell of the wrong kind of guy. The notes say, “She’s innocent, unaware of her own sex appeal,” and the setting is in a hotel where they meet.

Polished, proper looks with, said Burch, “subversive undertones,” are just a tiny touch askew making them all the...

Three major stars wore Reem Acra to the Golden Globes this season: Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Diane Lane. So it was no surprise that about half the looks the designer sent down her runway were red carpet-ish particularly an art deco- nspired beaded number and a very nearly naked job in a black  with a huge sheer panel running almost the lenght of the models body.

The other half of the...

High, high winds and icy, icy temps during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week don’t get the star of Bravo’s “It’s a Brad, Brad World” down.

That Brad, Brad, is Brad Goreski, Rachel Zoe’s former assistant, who parlayed a gig on her reality show into his own spin-off, which premiered last month on Bravo. He’s been living in Los Angeles for nine years, so you’d think this kinda East Coast cold would...