It’s getting increasingly difficult to categorize Vera Wang as a designer. Her clothes are thoughtful, but romantic too; artistic, but eminently wearable; and sexy, without being overtly so. Of course, you could just call them beautiful and leave it at that.
Although she’s still best known for her evening and wedding gowns, Wang’s daywear is coming on strong. For fall, she worked in a muted palette, mixing dusty, tea-dipped colors like taupe and pink with intense greens and purples as well as black and brown. She cut slim skirts and trousers with neat, narrow waistbands that sat low—but not too low—on the hips and showed them with soft blouses, bare-armed chiffon tops, and tissue-thin cashmere sweaters. There were strict, sharp wool coats over satin dresses, gleaming furs, and wispy, pin-tucked dresses, often paired with chunky fur shrugs. Wang even dabbled in abstract prints, like a muted wine-toned splattered silk that showed up in a lean little dress with an inset waistband of raw-edged tweed.
The designer showed a similar restraint in her evening looks. She shaped her chiffon confections with bias cuts or hand-sewn details and touched them with just the right amount of beading or ruffles—as well as plenty of pieces from her own line of diamond jewelry. And why not? Having put together a collection this strong, Wang has earned the right to gild her own lily.
