February 13th

Lacoste the 75 year-old activewear icon that essentially invented the genre, decided to emphasize a more urban element of its wide ranging brand. The morning audience was expecting a typical Lacoste presentation, broken up into distinct sections for separate aspects of its business. But this show was different. There was a quick pace, smooth flow and uniformity. Things started off with woolly wintery outfits mostly in light colors and then moved onto some very classic sportswear featuring Lacoste’s traditional use of primary bright colors.

The amazing George Chakra has become a favorite during Fashion Week after only showing twice before. The Lebanese born gifted womenswear practitioner quickly established himself for unique and standout designs. This season however he explored more traditional concepts that were strongly influenced by the 1940's. As always every piece was bang on both in conception and execution.

Korean-born design team Seokwon Andy Kim and Wonjeong Debbie Yoon have been working together since 1999. Their label Andy & Debb has earned success the hard way building upon strengths every year. This season the house was packed and some unfortunate latecomers were turned away. They featured a nice variety of young and vibrant ideas.

ADAM designer Adam Lippes stated in his look sheet that he was influenced this season by the work of Isca Greenfield–Sanders and her experimentation of colour, texture, lightness and line. It was easy to see how Lippes incorporated many of these considerations into his collection and translated them into some very chic and smart fashion.

The Academy of Art University showcased the work of its recent graduates. Six womenswear collections from the Fashion Knitwear, Technical and Textile Design programs were featured. There were lots of pleasant surprises.

To close the day the Bryant Park tents were transformed into a living African landscape with elaborate staging for Arise Magazine African Collective - Part III. The grand event featured some of Africa’s leading designers.