Furs have leapt into Fashion Week: on several runways, on Anna Wintour—even, oddly enough, in the front row at Luca Luca, where blogger Julia Allison sat with her puppy. Designer Catherine Malandrino went primal in fur jackets and feather dresses that were particularly supple and wild (though cinched at the waists); furs wrapped around sleeves at Ralph Rucci and flapped in tiers at Andy & Debb. Sunday’s shows featured a range of looks: from stern color-blocked sweater dresses at DKNY to structured drapes at Victoria Beckham.
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Almost as diverse as the collections were the designers themselves, who appeared at the end of every fashion show to take a bow—a fleeting moment of victory in front of their adoring crowds. Some designers who showed this weekend, like Doo-Ri Chung or Prabal Gurung, modestly darted on to the runway for a quick wave before high-tailing it backstage. Others basked. Victoria Beckham reportedly shook the hand of every person who attended her small show on the Upper East Side, while Yohji Yamamoto showed off his karate moves by sparring with models at his Y-3 show on Sunday evening. Luca Luca designer Luca Orlandi even sat in the front row of his own show with his wife and son.
More Fashion Week Coverage from The Daily Beast • Days 1-3• Day 5• Day 6 • Day 7• Day 8While some shows channel cocktail parties or Broadways plays, Diane von Furstenberg’s fashion show on Sunday evening felt like a blowout birthday party. Many of the designer’s close friends, including Charlie Rose, Francesco Clemente, and Fran Lebowitz lined the runway. The collection featured romantic floral berets, a perfectly tailored black blazer with studded silver sleeves, and even a fresh take on her signature wrap dress that was ruched, cinched, and topped with voluminous sleeves. Natalia Vodianova closed the collection in a show-stopping liquid gold lamé mini-dress. Von Furstenberg took a lap around the stage after the show, accepting flowers from children in the front row—even a toast from designer Patricia Field, who wore a peaked witch hat (and carried a cocktail glass).
Even the great Lee Radziwill perched on DVF’s runway, next to Vogue Editor at Large André Leon Talley. “It’s always festive,” Radziwill told The Daily Beast before the lights went down. “She’s like family,” Talley said of von Furstenberg. And, though her show technically fell on the fourth day of shows, Talley explained that Fashion Week hasn’t really begun until she hits the tents. “They’re always sort of like the opening ceremony of the week,” he said.
The DVF post-show party drew in everyone from Francesco Clemente to Rachel Zoe as well as fashion mainstays like Suzy Menkes and David Lachapelle, who arrived with Daphne Guinness and Andre Balazs. The designer's grandchildren were pouring out of every room.
There was some talk that von Furstenberg's collection had a Studio 54 vibe, but the designer herself wasn't seeing it.
"I think whenever people who weren't alive for Studio 54 see anything that's fun they think it's Studio 54,” she said. “It was really about metamorphosis and the idea of a man's life in a woman's body. That she could be a banker a biker or a ballerina. And I started thinking about menswear and then I woke up this morning and realized it was more feminine than anything I'd ever done."