Grunge and glamour at New York Fashion Week

Oscar De La Renta A/W 2013-14  Tory Burch was as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as ever as she kicked off day seven of the New York shows. No wonder, having recently finalised a lengthy legal battle concerning her label (thus making herself a billionaire), the iconic US designer has plenty of reasons to smile despite the snowy weather outside.
Vera Wang’s hotly anticipated show didn’t disappoint with a grown-up, toned-down take on eveningwear. Cropped trousers, capes and sportswear influences; it was notably conceptual when compared to her usual floor-length red carpet-ready gowns. Towards the end we were treated to something softer with short, puffy skirts from the Raf Simmons school of glamour, followed by flowing shoulder trains in floral print chiffon.
Wang was chased-up with the NYC crowd’s favourite, Rodarte. Cali girls Kate and Laura Mulleavy explained to press backstage: “We were inspired by Santa Cruz, it’s hard to distil it because it’s more an interpretation of a memory of a place… It’s our memories of childhood.” Evidently their childhood was a kaleidoscope of cool, because what they presented was a theatrically distilled picture of the grungy nineties; tie-die, oversized coats, wispy Courtney Love-inspired slip dresses. Rodarte always manages to precipitate and refine how women really want to dress.
Oscar de la Renta took centre stage as the sun went down. With belted dress-coats, bubble-skirt short dresses and splaying evening gowns, the quintessential uptown polished glamour that we are used to seeing from Oscar permeated through the Autumn/Winter collection, but there were indeed hints of grandiose Galliano drama. Oscar took shamed ex-Dior designer John Galliano under his wing this season. Galliano undertook a temporary residency at the brand's studio since his scandalous Dior dismissal in March 2011.