NEW YORK -- Some highlights from New York Fashion Week on Sunday:
A FAMILY AFFAIR AT BECKHAM
Usually, Victoria Beckham takes a quick little bow and a wave at the end of her runway show. On Sunday, she changed it up a little, rushing over to the front row to embrace husband David Beckham and their three younger children, Romeo, Cruz and Harper.
Beckham may have been emotional because she was beginning what she called her label's 10th anniversary year. In her show notes, the British designer noted that she wanted Sunday's show to be "a quiet celebration of where we have come since those very first appointments here in New York." In September, she plans to show at London Fashion Week to fete her anniversary.
Beckham was also showing in a new space on the Upper East Side of Manhattan -- the James A. Burden House, an Italian Renaissance-style mansion completed in 1905. Guests climbed a grand spiral staircase to arrive at the show.
It was a collection heavy on workplace looks, with belted coats and jackets with defined shoulders and drawn-in waists. Her favourite item, Beckham said afterward, was a striking belted leopard-print coat, made from a chenille jacquard fabric that was based on Venetian upholstery. She also featured clingy leggings, ankle cuffs in leather, and a print on silk that resembled fur -- "my take on fake fur," she explained afterward.
--Jocelyn Noveck
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AT DVF, A RETURNING DESIGNER AND A NEW MUSE
At DVF, the label's creator, Diane von Furstenberg, introduced a new (and returning) designer -- Nathan Jenden -- and a new muse for the brand: her 18-year-old granddaughter, Talita von Furstenberg, who modeled an outfit from the new collection and pronounced it "really cool" to embark on her new role.
Jenden, who returned to the label in January after working there for a decade until 2011, said he'd chosen the young von Furstenberg as his muse after watching her grow up. "I've known her since she was 2," he noted.
The new collection included a lot of riffs on the iconic DVF wrap dress -- some obvious and some more subtle.
"To me it was obvious what we needed to do," Jenden said in an interview. "Richness, layer on layer of fabrics. There's a lot of wrap. If you look carefully, everything is constructed so it feels like a little light jersey dress."
Von Furstenberg, 71, made a pointed reference to the .MeToo movement in remarks to the crowd at her downtown showroom.
"I just wanted to say that with everything that's happening with women right now ... I personally am more committed than ever to empowering women," she said. "And this is really important because the DVF collection has always been about being a woman in charge -- in charge of her life, in charge of who she sleeps with, in charge of what she does. She's in the driver's seat."
Jenden addressed the crowd as well, saying his designs were "all about being brave, about being unapologetically a woman, about celebrating femininity ... this is an homage to Diane, it's an homage to Talita, it's an homage to all women."
