Hannah Rose Prendergast

Musing on the Netflix period drama Babylon Berlin for SS19, Tom Ford peeked lace out from underneath faux crocodile, interrupted skirt suits with corsets and revisited his days at YSL with deconstructed versions of “Le Smoking” jacket. The designer’s trademark ‘man in a woman’s world’ androgyny materialized in satin, leather, silk fringe, and spotted ponyskin, while the calm before the storm, better known as the glam process, is given off by boudoir dressing and accessorized throughout using the durag. Other Fordian staples include ruched pencil skirts and caped gowns.

Savage x Fenty made its first appearance at New York Fashion Week and Rihanna, as usual, outdid herself. The divine feminine was interpreted through dance, expressed in all shapes and sizes, and slinked down the stage in thigh highs, gloves, garters, pasties and harnesses. The biodome runway was life giving (literally, ask Slick Woods who went into labor at the show) and as the goddess herself emerged during the finale to the tune of “Love Me Tender,” everyone agreed that female empowerment is sexy.

Rodarte left guests melting in the rain over their modern day Disney princess fits for spring. Ruffled leather, floral lace, glittered capes, off the shoulder chiffon, bustier tops, tulle dresses, tiered skirts, and Belle’s yellow ball gown were given the magic touch via hand embroidery, crocheting, and beading. ‘Extraness’ also came in the form of 80’s prom inspo but for designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy, it was more of a homecoming as they returned to NYFW.

Marc Jacobs was fashionably late to follow up his fall collection, one and a half hours to be exact. Continuing with the oversized 80’s garb, this season was more of a beautiful sad clown spectacle. Flounce, feathers, rosettes, ruffles, pastels, polka dots, and paperbag trousers joined archival references including Yves Saint Laurent, and Chanel. Finally, the coveted mini bag was paired with Pierrot collars and had us convinced that Jacobs was throwing subliminals about “IT” with that yellow rain slicker as his second look...