Narciso Rodriguez's lineup opened with a red double-face cashmere wool balloon coat and tapering trousers. "Early fall is about menswear, the boys' club," the designer said. "But the silhouettes are exaggerated." In both directions: The next look was a washed heavyweight winter cotton pantsuit, the shrunken jacket of which had toylike proportions. On the relaxed side, he showed a cap-sleeve sack dress in a metallic-shot wool with slash pockets at the hips, and an easy gray flannel jumpsuit with matching grosgrain trim. Stretch knit sleeveless tops and skirts, meanwhile, and his asymmetric-neckline cocktail fare, including one knockout L.B.D. with a bodice embroidered with blackened red sequins, followed much more body-con lines. Never for a moment did any of these experiments with volume, or the lack thereof, look like anything but signature Rodriguez, and that should certainly please his sophisticated power-women clients.
