New York Fashion Week A/W13

After a pretty appalling week, during which my painstakingly completed English coursework was rejected and staple beige school-chinos were splashed with hideously clashy black ink, I took great solace in browsing through the collections on display at New York fashion week.

I was struck straight away by the practicality of many of the collections; the coats, for example, looked stylish yet wearable and comfy, rather than flashy and ostentatious. Perhaps the memory of the recent snowy weather is still fresh in the minds of NY designers? Actually, it is more likely still fresh on their door steps- the snow is a persistent annoyance in the big City.

There is, however, a clever (I like to think!) parallel to be drawn between fashion and the snow. Snow is like a very skinny pair of jeans, or even a tight body-con dress that's just a tad too small. Like the snow, these things- along with many other great but short term garments- are very nice to look at when they're brand new. Unfortunately, like the snow, the novelty of a tight, riskily cut dress soon wears off when you realise you actually have to go outside in it. This illustrates nicely the point I was trying to make earlier: that designers have learnt the lessons of the snow.

Despite dedicating many minutes to scouring through pictures of catwalks, I could see very few of the outrageous, over-the-top designs that usually adorn the up-market catwalks. Instead, luxury was combined with sensibility and elegance. Some brands were even able to achieve the holy grail of womens' fashion: trousers than can be worn on any occasion- from going shopping to going out for dinner.

Rag And Bone's collection stood out to me in particular. Here's why:


Here are two Rag And Bone dresses. They embody the mood of the collection- simple but stunning. The first dress could quite easily have been designed by Mary Quant herself. The black neckline and sleeves go swimmingly with the orange top-bit (as I've expertly named it). The grey which dominates most of the dress is the sort of unexpected stroke of genius one would expect from a NY collection. I can't explain the mighty slit, but I like it nonetheless. The daring lines and bold angles of the second dress also hark back to the Op Look of the 1960s, and the yellow boots to go with look beautifully retro, exactly how I like to imagine Vivienne Westwood's slippers to look like. You might be thinking: 'these dresses won't keep anyone warm in the snow!' And you'd be right: they certainly won't. Of course, I could have shown you some photos of lovely cosy-looking coats (the likes of which were plenty, rest assured) but I thought I'd let you find them for yourself. Sorry to disappoint.

Here are some other looks I really liked: