Rose Period by Carolina Herrera Spring/Summer 2016

The Frick Collection has never opened its doors for a fashion show. Over the years, many designers have asked, but the answer was always no. This season Carolina Herrera heard yes. The skylit atrium is a transporting place; its Beaux Arts grandeur might have tempted Herrera to look back in time for inspiration, but she’s a resolutely modern-minded designer. She has been quick to embrace high-tech materials and figure out ways to incorporate them into her tony, uptown aesthetic. This season, more than ever, she put them to work.

Pictures via Instagram by @andreajankeofficial direct from the show 

at The Frick, New York 

On a preshow tour through her backstage dressing area, the buzzword was pleats, but not old-fashioned pleats. Herrera’s are trompe l’oeil, narrow bands of tech fabric stitched onto transparent mesh of different densities. Sometimes the tulle disappeared on the skin and sheer paneling has never looked more decorous or discreet. On other pieces, it was thicker, almost like athletic mesh, creating a sporty mien. The second talking point was pink. “I’m in my rose period,” Herrera said. From a flirty day dress (real pleats, not trompe l’oeil) in a delicate shade of blush to an embroidered shift in raspberry suede, there was no shortage of the shade, and it did a good job of warming up the somewhat clinical feel of the synthetic materials. For those not predisposed to pink, there were a few other frocks in black and white and a nice-looking, vaguely New Look suit in midnight blue flocked velvet. Herrera was eager to avoid prints because she’s done them so often in the past. Like we said, resolutely modern-minded. Still, that rose-print slip dress was awfully pretty.

 Carolina Herrera

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories

Photo Credit/Source: The House of Herrera

Runway photos by Luca Tombolini / Indigitalimages

@andreajankeofficial via Instagram

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'Luxe Futurism by Carolina Herrera Fall/Winter 2015/16'

The embroideries continued the theme as literal as a bevy of swans scudding across the water, or as abstract as the amazing tremblant droplets of reflective silver and black that shimmied around a sheath with the print of a stormy sea, or the frivolous little dance dress with a plunging neckline. A photograph on the Herrera mood board of a brace of battling black grouse in a snowy landscape, with their characteristic bright red wattles, inspired her to add a touch of scarlet to many of the looks.

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Luxe Futurism by Carolina Herrera Fall/Winter 2015/16

Glistening towers of glass shards dotted Carolina Herrera’s runway, suggesting falling water frozen in the glacial Manhattan chill. The decor was a signal to the theme that coursed through the collection like a babbling brook. “It’s all about water,” Mrs. Herrera explained during a preview. “Everything is connected to it.” And indeed, everything was somehow related to that element, from the waves suggested by the panels of pale double-face wool (and even the asymmetric flip of a playful little flounced skirt), to prints of raindrops or crashing sea swell, to flounces of seafoam gazar that made the wearer look like a goddess rising from the sea; to luminous “wet look” matelassé fabrics in moonbeam colors, to the pretty frosting on her models’ eyelashes.

The embroideries continued the theme as literal as a bevy of swans scudding across the water, or as abstract as the amazing tremblant droplets of reflective silver and black that shimmied around a sheath with the print of a stormy sea, or the frivolous little dance dress with a plunging neckline. A photograph on the Herrera mood board of a brace of battling black grouse in a snowy landscape, with their characteristic bright red wattles, inspired her to add a touch of scarlet to many of the looks. It might be a waving inset of red wool on soft gray, or an undulating panel of shiny alligator on a fur stole. En masse and on the runway there was an almost hallucinatory quality to Mrs. Herrera’s watery brand of luxe futurism. But the collection was firmly grounded with stylish flat shoes and boots that continued the layered, wave effect of many of the clothes. “Nothing is related to the past!” she exclaimed, decrying the current seventies revival trend. “Let’s not have any ‘era.’ Let’s go to the future!”

Enjoy the Carolina Herrera Fall/Winter 2015/16 runway show at the end of this post!

LoL, Andrea

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories

Photo Credit/Source: The House of Herrera

Photos: Mimi Ritzen Crawfor (backstage) / Stefano Masse/Indigitalimages (runway)

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Carolina Herrera promised a “modern garden” setting for her spring collection, “but it won’t be topiary!” she said, laughing. Instead, her models navigated a stage that was planted with towering conical green sculptures suggesting a formal planting of cypress trees a metaphor, perhaps, for a collection that was all about modern structure. “It’s an uncomplicated collection,” said Mrs. Herrera, “very simple lines with important details. It’s very much for now.”

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