Alice Temperley's second New York outing began with giant white doors swinging open to reveal—in a puff of smoke—Trish Goff standing under a chandelier in a trim gray velvet suit. It was a confident start that suggested the popular British designer was ready to stretch beyond dresses for fall, and she did, with a selection of chic jackets: A slate-gray forties style and a printed, quilted example showed the designer's decorative touch deftly applied to tailored pieces.
But it's the dresses over which those jackets were worn that remain the mainstay of this label. As always, there were some intarsia sweater dresses, which this season came extra-short and trimmed with sweet scallops at the hem and neckline. Scene-stealers, though, were the pieces featuring the remarkable, often handcrafted embellishment with which this designer made her name. (Her talent is in the details, best appreciated close-up.)
Overall, Temperley's sophomore show was a sister to her spring one. Although the collection showed an awareness of current trends, with light bubble dresses and forties references, the decoration changed more than the concept—which has, after all, been proven to work.
