Fashion week round up: Free to be you and me hits the Spring '19 shows

Good morning, Thursday. I was up and at 'em super early today to go vote. Always feels good to exercise my right. Hope you get out there and vote today too, my fellow NYers.

So I promised a bit of a fashion week round up, and here's the thing- it was a wacky, wild week on the runways of New York. There's a palpable sort of schizophrenia happening- if you're the type looking for trends to sum up the collections, good luck. Because they were simply all over the place. Sure there were the ubiquitous pastels, the use of chino khaki as a basic, and lots of denim (best example at Proenza Schouler, whose return to the runway did not disappoint). But truly- there's only one real trend that I saw, and it had very little to do with clothes. Because the biggest trend of the week was in the casting, and a true focus on diversity. Oh and big shout out to my new fav model, Kiki Willems, posted above at Michael Kors shiny, happy show this week. Love a redhead on the runway. I saw you too, Karen Elson. Don't worry. But I digress. Because there's more to unpack than mere tresses alone.

Designers like Christian Siriano and MIchael Kors broke with the stick figure tradition and showed women with more realistic bodies on the runway. There was a ton of diversity in terms of ethnicity across the board, and designer Marco Marco showed all transgender models on the catwalk. Check it out here. 

 And in terms of age, we saw Amber Valletta, Karen Elson, Yasmin Le Bon, and my queen Stella Tennant, who closed the show at Calvin Klein, return to the runway and give some much needed gravitas to the industry at large.  Above are some snaps from Zero & Maria Cornejo- bravo on the casting. And as for the fashion overall? There were short dresses, maxi dresses, and everything in between. Perhaps our current fervor for inclusion is finally catching up to the garment industry? How sweet it is.

Yes there were standout style moments for me. Proenza. Rodarte. Tibi. MARC FUCKING JACOBS OMG. Marc's show on the last day made me believe. The hair, the makeup, the outrageous fashion for fashion's sake. Fabulous beyond belief. And I loved how Proenza sourced some fabrics from overseas, but made the entire collection right here. And since I'm working in Soho these days, it was hard not to hate on the hordes of posing, preening, selfie obsessed lunatics on every corner. But fashion seemed to tune them out this year, even if they were still seated in the front row. Because these shows truly had something for just about everyone. And these here are some very confusing times- so it's no surprise the designers picked up on that. 

From the overly austere at the Row to the good vibrations at Michael Kors, the messages were mixed beyond belief but it bothered me not one bit.

I for one was happy to see all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages strut this past week. It's as if fashion took all the huddled masses and gabe them all something to believe in. And for that, I was tickled.

The big message was clear:
BE WHO YOU ARE. 
BE YOUNG. BE OLD. BE BIG. BE SMALL.
BE FASHION FOR FASHION'S SAKE.
BE A PIXIE. BE A SIREN. BE SEVERE.
BE GLAM. BE CHILL. BE SOMBER. BE STRIKING.
BE MINI. BE MAXI. BE ANYTHING IN BETWEEN.
FREE TO BE YOU. AND FREE TO BE ME.

Because that's what's up this celebrating diversity kind of Thursday in the 212. Yours, in liberty, justice, and fashion for all. XO