Skin isn’t in at Fashion Week

Fashion Week Day 7

updated 3:33 p.m. ET Sept. 11, 2007

NEW YORK - If the world needs another sign that Britney Spears’ look is yesterday’s news, check out New York Fashion Week.

Gone are the skin-centric, tummy-revealing and possibly private part-exposing trends that Spears and friends like Paris Hilton made ubiquitous. Instead, designers are embracing modesty, using sheer fabrics and lingerie looks to subtly hint at sexiness.

It’s an extension of the ladylike trends for fall; designers seem to have made the collective decision that a lot of skin isn’t in.

On Tuesday, Monique Lhuillier presented sophisticated, fluid looks that celebrate a woman’s shape without squeezing it. Carmen Marc Valvo showed tasteful swimwear with plenty of coverage, flattering pintucks and low leg openings. Even pantyhose made a comeback over the weekend at the Derek Lam show.

Of course, every rule has an exception. Marc Jacobs bucked the trend on Monday with plenty of glimpses of bras, slips and tap pants — but the show was more of an artistic statement than a presentation of wearable fashions.

New York Fashion Week wraps up Wednesday after an eight-day preview of the spring-summer looks of 100 or so designers.

Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs presented his spring collection late Monday night to a packed crowd that had been waiting for two hours.

But it looked like he could have used a little more time. Models were wearing what Jacobs called “scrap tops” and “one-half gowns” — clothes that one presumes were left unfinished to make an ironic statement — thus, giving the audience plenty of glimpses of their silk, satin and crepe bras, slips and tap pants.

On their own, individual elements of the outfits, such as a black lace cape or a moire sleeveless trench coat, were very attractive, but wearable clothes weren’t the point here.

The entire show was staged backward, beginning with his bow, then the finale and then running through the looks, starting with No. 56 and ending with No. 1, a denim cape and sequined gown. Some of the shoes had heels built sideways into the uppers, while others skimmed so low on the heel they looked too small for the models.

Even with all this “message,” the collection largely fit into some of the more important trends emerging from New York Fashion Week: color-blocking, sheer overlays, sequins, and nude and natural colors with bright pops from purple, pink and orange.

Calvin Klein
And now for something completely different: Calvin Klein’s spring collection was neither feminine nor rich in detail. It wasn’t candy-colored nor rooted in nature’s neutral colors. No ruffles. No sequins.

The collection designer Francisco Costa turned out Tuesday had a unique streamlined and sophisticated look that had been virtually absent from the runways at New York Fashion Week, bucking every trend along the way.

Half the outfits were a creamy white color, and another, say, 25 percent were various shades of gray. The only pops of color came from a few green dresses near the end of the presentation, held in the sparse, industrial-looking ground floor of the company’s Garment District office building.

The clothes, ranging from the opening ensemble — a notch-collar seamless jacket with a stretch, string-back bodysuit and long, high-waisted pencil skirt — to an almost floor-length satin organza dress with molded short sleeves, were serene and elegant.

A group of double-panel dresses were light and delicate, while the trouser looks, some with skinny legs, others with wide legs and all with high waists — were long and lean.

Betsey Johnson
She might have put dozens of prom queens on the runway, but Betsey Johnson was the belle of the ball.

She took her bow in the company of her granddaughter Layla — they wore matching tutus and silver ballet shoes — kissed a male model half her age and then did her customary cartwheels, much to the delight of the crowd at the Bryant Park tents.

Johnson’s show is a traditional high point of New York Fashion Week, not so much for the styles on the runway but because it’s always a high-energy, happy event. The theme this season was prom-worthy party dresses inspired by each decade from the 1950s through now.

She brought back glittery candy-colored versions of ’50s strapless dresses with big poufs, along with sleeker, body-hugging ’60s dresses and a yellow off-the-shoulder gown from the ’70s.

The ’80s was an era of look-at-me fashion, and Johnson captured that look with a “punk party dress” that was a short strapless number with a tiers of hot pink satin over tiers of black lace. The ’90s were, apparently, more nondescript.

And for Johnson, the 2000s have been political. The last runway look was worn simultaneously by four models in tiny red lace tap pants and giant silver letters on their backs that spelled V-O-T-E.

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