Designers dig into grandma’s closet

Monique Lhuillier
Monique Lhuillier continues to evolve her collection beyond her trademark pretty and ladylike clothes while still keeping everything pretty and ladylike — there’s just an edge to it all now.

“This season is all about industrial chic,” Lhuillier declared in a statement. Architect Frank Gehry’s work was an inspiration, she said, especially “his use of different kinds of metal and steel to create unusual and interesting forms.”

On a dress, this translated to high-neck dresses and gowns adorned with what looked like gold coins or hammered metal.

There also was a lot of structure to the clothes and a slim fit.

Schwartz said she was trying to envision the eveningwear on the red carpet. She’d like to see Cate Blanchett either in Lhuillier’s rose chiffon gown with a panel of pleats down the front or the emerald green corset gown.

“And I’d like to see the daytime looks on myself,” she added.

Max Azria
This is the more upscale line from husband-wife team Max and Lubov Azria, who previewed their BCBG earlier in Fashion Week. Some of the themes were the same here — patchwork and pleats, and using green and mauve as accents with grays and browns — but just a little more polished.

A few dresses had intricately pleated sleeves, and the knit ones had interesting patterns and colorblocks woven in the wool. Other dresses — and there were a lot of not-quite-fancy dresses for Azria’s starlet following — had high necks and cowl backs, which seems to be a favored look of the season.

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Azria, who had John Legend and Kelly Rowland in his front row, made an interesting music choice: Models walked down the runway to lyrics that said, “Big girls are beautiful.”

Jovovich Hawk
Designers Milla Jovovich and Carmen Hawk took over a section of the already vintage-inspired Gramercy Park Hotel and turned it into a treasure trove of grandma’s best clothes — from when she was still a single lass.

Until now, Jovovich-Hawk’s claim to fame has been Jovovich’s celebrity as a model. This collection, though, could elevate the brand thanks to a series of sweet-sexy outfits.

The best ones included a slim black skirt suit with patent leather accents, worn with hot-pink stilettos; a black viscose dress with rosettes and rose-color trim; and a navy halter dress with peach contrast that looked as if it should be worn by a woman selling cigarettes at a speak-easy.

Thakoon
Do black and blue go together or do they clash? It’s an age-old fashion question, but Thakoon Panichgul thinks he has the answer: Put black embellishment on cobalt blue or vice versa. He did it on a satin “sweatshirt’ dress, assembling beads in a floral pattern; and he paired a black feather-seamed coat, decorated with a bit of lace, and a cobalt satin cocktail dress that had stripes of black paillettes.

He made a convincing case for the unconventional color combination.

Nanette Lepore
If you’re going to wear Keds with cocktail dresses, you’ve got to have the right attitude, and the models in Nanette Lepore’s show Monday certainly did. They bounced around in short dresses, purple tights and gold or velvet sneakers. (Lepore collaborates with Keds.)

Even the more grown-up clothes, which were then paired with peep-toe pumps from Lepore’s own, higher-end shoe collection, had a light and playful touch — a sweater dress was adorned with sequins and a tan-and-blue print chiffon dress was worn over soft velvet pants.

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