Though it might seem odd to rural residents that a farm fresh egg could be a thing of luxury, for urban dwellers, if it comes from a pasture-fed hen, it's the ultimate symbol of the current craze for “haute barnyard.” The Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant is the golden standard of the genre, located in the idyllic countryside of the Hudson Valley, where boars are on a first-name basis with the chef before they're turned into charcuterie, and a newly sprouted pea shoot goes directly from their garden to your plate almost immediately...
So it's fitting that Carolina Herrera's Fall 2008 collection, which she showed Monday morning, Feb. 4, in Bryant Park, could be summed up by this description in her program notes, “A riding jacket you grab from the mudroom over a crinkle chiffon gown for an elegant dinner on the farm.”
It was chic country house all the way for Herrera, where she managed to make the idea of mucking around in a muddy pasture seem like a luxurious pastime and where it'd be completely normal to go horse riding while wearing a delicate chiffon silk evening gown and fox vest. Side saddling, of course.
At the heart of the collection were simple “window pane” plaids, rich fall colors like mustard, rust, chocolate brown and China blue, printed soft silk blouses, regal looking jacquards and a contrast between heavy and light – tweed, velvet, fox fur layered over chiffon, taffeta or organza. At times, Herrera's English countryside had an air of medieval-meets-psychedelic - maybe it was the color palette or the swirling jacquard coats with balloon-sleeves, but it seemed as though Maid Marion and Robin Hood had swapped places with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull.
Following Herrera's pre-fall collection, which hinted at her interest in avian motifs, there were birds a-plenty, whether a wing print blouse, textured chiffon cut to look like feathers, or actual feathers sprouting from a neckline.
The models all wore fantastic looking riding boots – made up of two layers with a top layer that slouched ever so slightly – it was an inventive take on the traditional style.
Herrera's gowns, less of the focus of her collection than they usually are, but which her customer base is particularly fond of, received murmurs of approval from the Texan contingent seated front row, in particular a strapless brown taffeta gown with two very long feathers that extended from the back of the gown for a dramatic effect, the gown equivalent of a feather in one's cap (and there were plenty of those as well).
But it was when Herrera moved away from her classic train gowns with the chiffon column dresses featuring bird prints or with delicate, floating, feathered layers that Herrera truly wowed. Elegant and delicate, even when drenched with color and print, their silhouette made them both refined and understated.
Photo courtesy of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week
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Article Courtesy of Fashion Wire Daily
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