In memoriam: an ode to the best of New York Fashion Week 2013

We must not dwell on the brevity of its life, but on the beauty of its existence. To all my fellow fashion bloggers, New Yorkers, shopaholics and fashion enthusiasts, let’s take a moment to put ourselves together and briefly reminisce about those darling floral embellished Oscar de la Renta dresses, J. Mendel’s intricately detailed metallic brocade dresses, and Alexander Wang’s in-your-face graphic tops, so that we may then shed our desperate longing for the past week and remember New York Fashion Week 2013 as a time when digital floral prints, black leather tanks and beautifully structured outerwear reigned supreme. The fifth of September: Let’s not pretend like you had to press the snooze button the morning of BCBGMAXAZRIA’s 10 a.m. show. In fact, you probably didn’t even require your daily morning dose of your chosen Starbucks coffee. And if you weren’t one of the privileged few to have gotten an invite to the show, don’t pretend like you weren’t viciously scanning your favorite social media sites and blogs at 11:00 a.m. for pictures from the glorious event. But whether you were at Theatre in your Louboutins (or Steve Maddens…hey, we’re broke college girls here) rubbing shoulders with the Man Repeller, or at Brody, working with your Chem Lab buddy, we should momentarily look back and admire BCBGMAXAZRIA’s reinvention of the straight-line dress, made popular during the 1920’s. The duo design team, Lubov and Max Azria, replaced traditional satin with chiffon and discarded typical 1920’s glass beading and detailed embellishments in favor of digital floral prints, while keeping the integrity of the straight-line dress’ silhouette. Daisy Buchanan meets Cara Delevingne? Could there be anything more perfect? The sixth of September: Baroque-style gold leaf graphics decorating black leather tanks, noir black leather jackets with metal embellishments, structured jackets on top of frilly linen blouses paired with skin-tight leather pants, intricately black beaded tops with beige lace cardigans and layered gold chains. Nicole Miller truly outdid herself this year by presenting a collection that so creatively blended her eclectic sources of inspiration ranging from theatrical Baroque era decorative arts to early twentieth century fashion to edgy street-wear. Shall we now silently applaud Nicole Miller for amalgamating our adored but often overwhelmingly-old-fashioned-vintage-chic-style with an edge that will make you want to spontaneously purchase a big black Harley and ride it right out of the shop while sporting your new DVF stilettos? I think so. The twelfth of September: Lastly, we shall commemorate one of the most sumptuous, beautifully constructed, and daring collections of the season. Leave it to none other than Marc Jacobs to have created a dark and moody collection complete with bulky sculpted wool jackets adorned with military accents and tassels, matching tasseled jackets and Bermuda shorts in various floral patterns, and gothic sequined dresses with rather high necklines and rather low hemlines adding to the stark androgynous, gothic feel. Online blogger, OJ Williams, at STASHED perfectly attributes the phrase “Victorian decadence” to describe the collection. The dark, romantic Poe-esque vibe was achieved through the use of structured tailoring and Victorian silhouettes for outerwear, and the combination of deep reds, hunter greens, and stark navy blues all embellished with noir black accents such as tassels and braids. Marc Jacobs could not have executed his intentions and sources of inspiration more forcefully and skillfully, and has consequently driven us fashion aficionados into an even deeper nostalgia for the breathtakingly beautiful collections this past fashion week. Our beloved designers’ appreciations for such obscure yet pleasing trivialities of our world - such as a baroque gold leaf accent, vintage embroidery, street style, or the romantic spirit – unite us fashion enthusiasts, artists, and women, in a world in which every triviality from our history or present society is brought to light to be properly appreciated and turned into that magical something we call “fashion”. It is essentially that accessibility to our creative collective understanding that has made last week the most liberating and inspirational week of the year, and this week the hardest. Alright, Hopkins girls, don’t know about you but I’m setting my countdown. Just 360 more days!