Urban Zen. RTW Fall 2019 – New York Fashion Week

 

(Images from Vogue.com and wwd.com and the public domain. All rights. Used in promotion of the designer.)

I feel it is great when designers use esoteric numbering, or at least a numerical configuration when styling clothes.  For the stalwart designer Donna Karan it is the number 7, that she believes assists in the layering of styles, which sit over the female form.  Mix and matching set within the layered ensembles, owes its manifestation to the Avant-garde styles of the early 1980s - initiated by the Japanese designers (and also early UK fashion designers) influence on Paris Ready-to-Wear and Couture arrays.  Is the shifting shapes in which layering can complete as a fixed portrayal of the human form, particularly the feminine.  Creating a mystique and sensuality, enveloped into defined asymmetrical cuts and stylization. 

Karan for Urban Zen has broken down the pieces so that it portrays a raw beauty within its muted color palette.  Taking cues from nature, as a representation of aesthetics that do not have to be bright and dazzling, rather the somber elements of desirability can also shine through.  Crafting a futuristic nomadic collection set against the processes of time - drawing from the past as we borrow to adapt to the present.

Soft suede pieced together to create skintight pants and boots, light and breezy chiffon skirts.  An East, West fusion of draped silk bohemian tunic tops.  Resilient styled nylon jackets.  Velvet inter-layering infused with embroidery and print work.  

A beautifully serene, yet paradoxically defiant collection that holds a coalesce charm.  With the ever changing environment to which humanity is both a part of and disconnected from - a reflection of tumultuous cultures, the rise and fall of civilizations.   In all of this chaos, it is to define your own will of the individual.