Last season, Bryan Bradley decided to shock Tuleh out of its traditional, Upper East Side sensibility, sending satin jumpsuits and fetishy rubber coats down the runway in place of the usual ladylike tweed jackets and elegant cocktail dresses.
Bradley took the same tack for fall, but softened the shock factor. He capitalized on the label's strengths—fantastic dresses, wonderful prints, exotic colors—while injecting them with just enough of a hip, young edge. The starting point for the collection is probably best described as "throw it on and see what happens." Hence the lavender and brown brocade duffel coat over a teal chiffon dress, or the shrunken, multicolored tweed jacket over a long black floral dress. It would be fair to say that the more out-there moments—the camouflage fox furs and satin cargo shorts—will only make it into a minority of wardrobes. But there will be heavy demand for those dresses. Whether it was a chiffon gown in a fuchsia, gold, and brown floral that evoked the look of Pratesi prints from the 1970's, or a brown evening dress that dramatically trailed the floor in its wake, Tuleh delivered glamour with a touch of grit.
