Desert queens at Donna Karan

With its sandy runway and rocky backdrop, we almost expected another rugged homage to “Blade Runner”  at Donna Karan’s spring show on Monday afternoon. But the designer, instead, drew inspiration from nature, specifically, the desert, and she pared her vision down to its essence.

Virtually colorless, the palate included variations on shades of sand – parchment, jute, vanilla. Fabrics bucked the subtlety and were worked over big time – crinkled, wrinkled, crushed and distressed. 

And the models – desert queens – stunned in long, lean, to-the-body dresses, wide-legged pants or loose, drapey coats.  A barely there sun-faded floral of tissue satin floated, a raw silk/linen car coat simply must-have, while a hand- embroidered pale gold evening dress was positively knockout.  Donna’s urban nomads will most certainly steal the scene next season.