New York's Fashion Week offers exciting collections for Spring

Two weeks ago, Manolo-clad power editors, a handful of powerful buyers, streams of paparazzi and a few token celebrities descended on the Bryant Park tents to get the first glimpse of the Spring 2005 collections during New York's Fashion Week. The parties and the gossip that ensued were just an added bonus.

Jennifer Lopez, Kate Hudson and the Olsen twins all made appearances during the shows, while Coty, the cosmetic giant, gave a lavish star-studded gala at the Natural History Museum.

But it really is the pure love of fashion that inspires people to wait for over an hour in an overcrowded stuffy room to see a five-minute runway presentation, which is never as glamorous as it seems in a glossy magazine.

The fall collections that preceded this season were heavily focused on "granny fashion" and retro, ladylike elegance. Fall saw the emergence of trends including broaches, boxy handbags, long leather gloves, capelets and all things fur and tweed.

The spring collections, for which the past weeks of fashion craziness in the Big Apple were held, offered a much more subdued version of ladylike clothing, uniformly pretty and light.

These collections, heavily inspired the by 1950s, come at a time of increasing social conservatism, but also during a historically volatile political period. The impending presidential election, the war in Iraq, and other political hot-buttons, however, seemed far from the minds of American designers and their upbeat and sweet collections.

Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera, the king and queen of dignified fashions for the socialite set, masterfully executed the pretty look of spring.

De la Renta exquisitely infused Indian embellishments and St. Tropez glamour with his classic "ladies who lunch" sensibility. In recent seasons de la Renta has increasingly appealed to a much younger clientele, and nothing more clearly signaled his youth appeal than celebrity "it" girls Ashley Olsen, Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore sitting in his front row.

Nevertheless, de la Renta did not stray far from his roots when creating this seamless collection. A highlight of the collection was an airy embellished patterned skirt of turquoise and camel, with an off-white ruffled blouse and boxy camel jacket.

Another classic look from the collection included full-white trousers, a black and white striped shirt, and a nautical-inspired black jacket with bright gold buttons.

The show featured floating caftans of orange and red, a beige silk dress with a bustier top and full petticoat skirt, and several long gowns in sea foam, magenta and white-lace with full ruffled skirts, most surely a tribute to de la Renta's Dominican roots.

Herrera, in her Spring collection, used fabrics of silk, crepe and jersey to create floaty dresses and gowns.

Standouts from the collection were a spectacular chiffon dress with a brown, white and green mosaic tile pattern and a lovely lace dress with tiny pearl buttons securing the back.

Her equally elegant sportswear collection included shrunken blazers, which she paired with petticoats and A-line skirts with just a touch of movement, and a red tweed shift dress.

The best of her evening looks was a white gown with floating silk panels and metal beading. Herrera perfectly accented the collection with jeweled straps and belts.

Trends of the Spring 2005 Collections

Shorts, a trend that began during last year's spring collections, picked up momentum this season. The Marc by Marc Jacobs collection paired boxy high-wasted shorts--some blue denim, some striped--with chunky brown belts and colorful platform wedges in green and yellow.

Designer Narciso Rodriguez showed tailored black and white Bermuda shorts, body skimming tees, and stiletto-heals.

Floral and other bold patterns also abounded on the catwalks of spring.

The rising stars of Proenza Schouler used graphic African-inspired prints in brown and khaki to create boxy blazers and 1960s-inspired car coats. They also used stenciled floral patterns to create pencil skirts and slim ankle pants.

Derek Lam, another buzz-generating up-and-comer, used crimson and white floral patterns to create flirty shirt-dresses and spring coats in his collection that was inspired by the late photographer Helmut Newton.

Full-skirts, both with heavy petticoats and subtler A-line skirts, appeared on a multitude of runways this season.

Marc Jacobs' irreverent version of ladylike elegance mixed a swinging skirt in pink and fuchsia with a pink and red cardigan. One of the most successful looks of the collection was a full-navy silk skirt with sequined trim paired with a blue and red collared shirt.

His evening looks consisted of knee-grazing dresses in purple, turquoise and off-white with billowing petticoat skirts.

Fairly recent designer Behnaz Sarafpour, in her runway show held at New York City's flagship Tiffany's boutique, paired a white and blue tie-dyed full skirt with a crisp white button down blouse. She also featured a silver brocade A-line skirt and a black chinoiserie top.

Designer use of cinched waists was another ubiquitous trend on the Spring 2005 runways.

Italian designer Luca Luca showcased a strapless lavender dress with chiffon piping, trimmed with chiffon ruffles and a black ribbon belt at the waist.

Derek Lam used wide belts to cinch the waists of blazers, crewneck sweaters and mid-calf chiffon tea dresses. The classic trench coat, with a wide-belt to tighten the waist, a trend that began at Prada several seasons ago, was carried on this spring by Marc Jacobs and Lam.

In the way of colors, white and off-white proved integral to the spring collections.

Powerhouse designer Ralph Lauren's collection, inspired by 1930s Hollywood, was almost entirely white or off-white with a few touches of silver and pastel hues of pink and blue.

His series of white and off-white satin bias-cut gowns that ended the collection are sure to make an appearance on a future red carpet.

Pastels, colors that are traditionally reserved for spring, abounded in these feminine and muted collections.

Designer Peter Som closed his collection with a soft pink strapless floor-length gown and a light blue chiffon gown, which garnered images of the prom, circa 1950.

Tuleh, a favorite of young Upper East Siders, also used pastels on pieces such as a lovely apricot jacket, a peach floor length lace gown and sheer lavender chiffon dresses.

Luca Luca featured a pale green short jacket with a ribbon belt, lemon-colored dresses, and pink satin skirts.

Three Stand-Out Collections for Spring

Three collections particularly stood out against the pretty and demure looks of spring: Calvin Klein, Narciso Rodriguez, and Michael Kors.

Francisco Costa, now into his third collection for Calvin Klein, used mahogany, tan, bright orange, blue and green in his controlled and body-conscious collection. His color choices, heavily inspired by a recent trip to Wyoming, and his sensuous but simple clothing, looked decidedly fresh and modern against the throngs of embellished and patterned clothing of the majority of the spring collection.

The series of color blocked fluid jersey dresses, one of orange and white, and another of green, blue and turquoise, were particularly beautiful.

Narciso Rodriguez's minimalist aesthetic and architectural designs were particularly refreshing during this most recent collection of his.

Narciso loosened up a bit for 2005 and added movement and even colors such as turquoise and coral into this collection, while still maintaining the precision that has defined his work. He began the collection with an easy and loose pink dress with an empire waist. He still included his famed cropped monochromatic black and white jackets and shift dresses in this collection, but there were also liquid silk empire-waisted gowns in silver and icy blue, and mini corseted bra tops over both a flowing white and blue skirt and cropped mint trousers.

Celebrity favorite Michael Kors clearly had the jet set and European getaways such as Capri and the Greek Island in mind when he designed his spring collection.

It was the upbeat energy and clear confidence of the collection that made it seem inspired and effortless. In the collection there is a python bikini with a cashmere cardigans cover-up, a leopard caftan accented by multi-strand turquoise necklaces, and a black and white striped tee paired with black and white floral capris.

These sweet and demure collections of spring are not particularly surprising or innovative. Yet something in the air recently--whether it is the extraordinary desire for vintage clothing, or the recent conservative mood of the country--makes the return of ladylike elegance seem reassuring and just right.

Keep an eye on the upcoming collections from Milan and Paris, particularly with new designers at the helms of Gucci and Yves St. Laurent and creative mastermind John Galliano at Christian Dior.