NYFW diary: The dispatch from day one including Jason Wu’s updated Mao jacket, Rag & Bone’s granny mishmash, and Suno’s sweet, sweet garden print

Date February 11, 2012

It’s that time again! The semi-annual ushering in of awesome new things we can’t afford but want SO badly. The month of running around like a headless chicken in shoes that feel “just okay” but look “so amazing!” And so it began yesterday morning with a ceremonious full-body search at Billy Bishop Airport and a quick Porter jaunt over to New York City (the flight was like a FASHION invasion, with our editor-in-chief Bernadette Morra and features editor Elio Iannacci both coincidentally on board). Arriving with just enough time to plop my stuff down, overdo it with the Elnett, and pop into a cab for Jason Wu, I was off.

Past a flurry of street photogs and the ever-posing Courtin-Clarins bouquet of posies, sisters Claire and Virginie, Wu’s collection spilled out of a floor-to-ceiling ornate red door. As cymbals clanged to a beat, the show was a sweeping ode to China’s history: from Chairman Mao’s military jackets (but done up in lace to begat the designer’s ladylike aesthetic), the Qing Dynasty’s opulence (embellished to perfection with gold), and even the kitchy over-glamourizing of the culture in the Old Hollywood years (think tear drop–neckline cutouts in velvet). There was also the matter of the weirdly awesome accessories: redone thin-rimmed pilot sunnies, tasseled red and gold nob hats, thick extension-ed ponies that reappeared en mass as the entire collection stomped out for a multi-modeled finale á la Dolce & Gabbana.

Then it was off to the Stages for Yigal Azrouël’s showing of California cool girl’s trip to the wilderness. The resampling of last Fall’s It worthy python print was redone alongside baby-blue cigarette pants, long printed sweaters, and the largest fur pilot’s hat you ever did see. Though I didn’t get the feeling of freshness that the designer usually produced, the collection produced more than a few solid staples for Fall.

Next up, a complete standout, if I may say so, from Rag & Bone, featuring the messed-to-perfection stylings of granny embroidery, blanket coats in layers, and newly envisioned Midwestern prints. So wrong that it was right. (Ahem, silk harem paisley print?) Added to the quirky mix was a Bassnectar meets Skrillex meets mainstream-pop soundtrack that beat so loud that I could barely remember to breathe. What I did manage to remember? Thom Yorke, as credited for creating the mix.

Last for the day was a sardine-packed house for Suno, which proved worth the squish, as the sweetest mix of prints unfolded on the runway at Milk Studios. Duo Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis really flexed their mixmaster muscles this time around, combo-ing structured houndstooth and striped jackets with childlike cutout prints and florals. The ooh aah moment came not once but twice! First with a delicate white silk floral-printed jumpsuit worthy of The Secret Garden 2.0 (if one is ever to be made), and then again with a shimmering black nubby skirt suit with florals sewn on.