"This is fantasy about leaving the city," says Michael Kors of his spring/summer 2012 collection during an intimate preview before his catwalk show scheduled for 24 hours later. Kors explains that last year, the brand celebrated its 30th anniversary and it was a requisite to make clothes for the city it's based in. But this season, which will feature no black, "it's the opposite extreme and I went to the jungle. The real jungle", he says. Kors, who had been travelling in South Africa, has fallen in love with the Singita Lebombo lodge, which he describes as his favourite escape in the world.
The clothes he previewed seemed to reflect his penchant for travel, but they're not just chic offerings only fit for looking attractive by an infinity swimming pool. The pieces have specific utility and versatility, a functional take on luxury that the global brand, which has more than 200 stores all over the world with robust wholesale distribution, has been built on since it appeared on the hallowed doors of Bergdorf Goodman in 1981.
Three decades later, Kors hasn't forgotten his roots, as evidenced by the green utilitarian wind coat fashioned from silk puckered with nylon that women can "wear on a plane or over a bathing suit".
There's also a linen crane hand-dyed dress made of asymmetrical panels paired with chunky-heeled sandals and a textured coat composed of a variety of satin, silk and linen panels, all of which give a sense of roughened luxury.
For the evening, Kors provides an easy to wear A-line dress made with hand-painted silk, a chiffon gown with python detailing and a showstopping, knee-length, heavily textured number with shredded chiffon and leopard-painted feathers. "If there was tweed in Africa, this would be it," jokes Kors. For the show, expect no stilettos or black, the clothes are all, according to Kors, "light and easy".
For Alice & Olivia, the idea of practicality came in copious amounts of colour and floral prints and there were plenty of unfussy shifts with a whiff of the 1960s that could take women from day to night.
Carolina Herrera's whole uniform - a crisp white shirt paired with a pencil skirt - is all about this seamless daily transition of the busy woman.
Herrera's collection was attended by the outlandishly styled and colourful rapper Nicki Minaj, who sat next to Anna Wintour. While the former may not necessarily be the customer she designs for, the latter is and there were plenty of colourful dray dresses in her geometry-inspired outing.
Vera Wang also counts Wintour as a fan, but her collection, ripe with transparent fabrics, plentiful peplums and short hemlines, has pieces that, although beautiful, may be too edgy for her core customer base. But if they take that risk, instant style points await her coterie of well-heeled women.
Hervé Léger, whose bandage dress has won legions of fans, has turned the outfits into metallic curve-hugging wonders. Narciso Rodriguez loosened his strict silhouettes through a complex layering of panels and Oscar de la Renta played with awesome volume through silk skirts and gowns that are sure to get red carpet and editorial mileage.
At Zero Maria Cornejo, her pared down dresses seen in canary yellow and colour-blocked in black, blue and white may appear loose in their silhouette. However, they are engineered in such a way that it is not only flattering and accommodating to numerous body types, it's effortlessly chic in movement when worn.
Meanwhile, in menswear, Perry Ellis didn't stray from easy sportswear, with such pieces as linen suits, cable knit sweaters and coats and jackets made with technical fabrics that can be integrated with most men's wardrobes.
This customer loyalty is something that Diane von Furstenberg understands, and season after season, she's managed always to sate women's need for feel-good clothing that's also useful. If you need a white shirt dress with a full skirt for a luncheon, a relaxed blazer and loose trousers for work or a swingy floral printed dress for a cocktail party, von Furstenberg has them all. With the level of success she has achieved, sometimes it's good to be everything to everyone.
