Over the past few seasons, Phillip Lim has flexed his strength for melding references that seem to have less-than-zero in common to suit the nomadic global woman he imagines as his muse. For spring, the worlds of Berber textiles and Courrèges’ spacey Sixties collided. Actually, it was more of a friendly merger.
Instead of piling up as he did for fall, Lim pared down. “Coming from the previous collection where we unpacked a suitcase, I wanted to shed a little bit but keep that nomadic vibe,” he said backstage. The elements he chose to work with from each genre were quite clear. He let the spare palette, smooth, undulating curves and abbreviated shapes of Sixties Pop frame the rustic Berber textures — fringe, woven stripes, shearling — with a clean modernity. It made for a collection that was highly designed but ultimately wearable, which is the bull’s-eye in the advanced contemporary market.
Silhouettes veered from short and neat to long and loose, always cut with a purist eye. A woven striped vest with fringe trim was worn over a silver metallic bra top with a curvy silver button and clean white trousers. A white tailored blazer was elongated into a maxi coat

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Get happy! That’s Wes Gordon’s approach at Carolina Herrera. It’s also his strategy as he takes on the task of developing the brand’s next phase, one that will inevitably involve some degree of casualization. 
“I spent a lot of time thinking about what should Herrera be, what is Herrera?” Gordon said backstage at the New-York Historical Society on Monday morning. “It should be a wardrobe for [women like] Mrs. Herrera, for that woman who’s not a wallflower, who lives life to the fullest, likes color, has an exuberance.…Not overintellectualizing it.” 
Happiness is a good place to start, and Gordon made his official runway debut an impressive one, even if he channeled his own exuberance a bit broadly. To his credit, he put out a lot of ideas, but the collection could have benefited from fewer proposals developed in greater depth. He started by rethinking several house codes. He showed plenty of tailoring, with the clear intention of making it less ladyfied. Case in point: snappy blazers with demonstrative piping over short, youthful A-line skirts. Gordon tinkered as well with another Herrera favorite, the classic shirt, at times recoloring it and cropping it above the waist, secured with a drawstring, popping one over a bright green skirt, side-buttoned for an

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Dennis Basso took his global woman from candy-colored splendor in Cannes for resort to cruising the Mediterranean for spring with a wardrobe influenced by Italian style icon Marella Agnelli. The designer tackled graceful daywear from morning — silky striped pajama sets, complete with broadtail sleeping mask and cashmere pillow; to afternoon, with a nautical-inspired linen day dress and jumpsuit that were fastened with gold buttons or top-stitched white trousers with an embroidered sheer organza top; to evening, with a white leather mini skort with athletic stripes and Basso’s take on a denim jacket in baby blue ultra-fine cashmere and fox fur. And there was attire for glamorous black-tie nights: A black-and-white feathered mini cocktail dress was the most modern. 
Mary J. Blige, a longtime supporter of the brand and the lead in the designer’s latest ad campaign, accompanied Basso down the runway to close the show in a beaded black-and-white jersey gown and fur stole. Backstage pre-show, Blige praised his ability to balance both chic and street attire. “I feel so great!” she exclaimed of her show look. She looked it, too.

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Yeohlee’s starting reference was a far-reaching point from the impeccably constructed minimalist offering she put out for spring. She began by looking at the pigmentation behind metals and seashells, which led to the color-making process at Harvard’s Fogg art museum. That inspired her to inject cheery saffron, ginger and a multicolored checkered print into her typically stark wheelhouse.
“I think fashion is very informed by the times we live in,” she said after the show. “We’re in a very unusual moment and I thought it was a good time for us to celebrate togetherness and unity, and colors are happy. I thought a little happy moment is not a bad thing.”
She opened the show with a bright oversize pullover shirt with a thoughtful gathering of fabric in the back that allowed it to hang loose from the body; the same design detail appeared elsewhere on a great yellow dress. There was a playful color-blocked top-and-bottom set and a dress with frayed accents, and other injections of color via a jungle print cut into a dress with a gathered knot at the waist. “Being from the tropics I grew up with a profusion of color,” the Malaysia native continued. “I went into

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The three-day festival was chockablock with gorgeous vintage cars and over-the-top retro costumes.

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The Swiss watchmaker is keeping up with the big-league brands with the introduction of the in-house Baumatic caliber.

US retailers and analysts say the latest proposal by US President Donald Trump to impose US$267bn of additional tariffs on Chinese products would be bad news for the retail sector, potentially leading to higher prices for consumers if passed on.