Fall looks trend toward rich palettes, femininity

NEW YORK - Taking inspiration from women in literature, film and street art, designers are interpreting iconic femininity with rich palettes, boyfriend jackets and tailored silhouettes this season in their fall/winter 2009 collections at New York Fashion Week.

Erin Fetherston says her collection was inspired by the female lead in “Romeo and Julet.”

“It was always my favorite play and for a long time I always wanted to take a romantic icon and make it work in a modern context,” she told TODAYshow.com in a recent interview.

Fetherston, who recently created a limited-edition collection for Target, said her new collection held an “ethereal, whimsical quality.”

Dark, rich colors — rose red, forest green and purple with gold accents — mark the collection. Fetherston also drew from the “boyfriend jacket” look that surged in popularity this past season with a longer, tailored version of a tuxedo jacket that’s decidedly feminine.

Meanwhile, Amanda Bupp, visual manager of creative services at Calvin Klein, said she was looking forward to seeing closely tailored silhouettes, “really constricted, corsets” and “gothic trends.”

As for material, Bupp said she expected to see “maybe some plaids, heavy material — tucked, pulled and pleated — that sort of thing,” with “reds and turquoise” dominating.

“I’m really obsessed with Marie Antoinette,” she said.

Rebecca Taylor A sketch by Rebecca Taylor from her upcoming line takes inspiration from “a reflection of a girl delving into her grandmother’s dress-up box.” Taylor unveils her fall collection Thursday at New York Fashion Week.

Clothes that ‘tell a story’
Fashion week first-timer Iodice, a Brazilian line popular in Latin America and already found in such stores as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, is employing blue-violet heavily in its young, fresh fall collection.

The collection’s 36 fitted looks span a wide range of fabrics and treatments, such as bubble skirts, wraps and a horse-skin top with an alligator-skin texture. It also employs silk, satin, sequins, lace and jersey cotton.

“The real application of the clothes, all together, tell a story,” said designer Valdemar Iodice.

He added that inspiration for his fall line, which employs large, deconstructed prints, came from the book “Graffiti Woman! Graffiti and Street Art From Five Continents.”

Other first-timers at the tents in Manhattan’s Bryant Park this season include 3.1 Phillip Lim, Hervé Léger by Max Azria, Araks, Mara Hoffman and Malan Breton.

Breton, a “Project Runway” contestant from the third season, now stars in “The Malan Show” that debuted Wednesday on Bravo.

‘Ladylike trends’
Breton said he drew inspiration for his fall line from Jacques Demy’s “Les Parapluis de Cherbourg(The Umbrellas of Cherbourg).”

“The brilliance of color, the beauty of its star Catherine Deneuve, the music and the way it assembles something so powerful — an emotion impossible to explain,” he said.

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