The Salle Wagram, a dance hall dating to 1865, suggested we were in for a different kind of Akris show than we're used to. And indeed the program notes said that designer Albert Kriemler took the Vienna Secession movement as muse for Fall. But he hardly went as bohemian or Art Nouveau as all that suggests. Kriemler is a committed minimalist: He has a light touch.
Here's an example: fur. It was there, but if it wasn't exactly flying the way it has been on so many other runways this season, that's because it was used so discreetly. A vicuna bolero worn over a cashmere coat was shorn thinly enough that it almost looked like velvet. Everything had that pared back yet still luxe feeling, from a suede and wool second-skin sweater worn with skinny suede pants to a wool jersey sleeveless dress whose only adornment was a zipper detail front to back on one shoulder. Even paillettes looked classy here, densely embroidering the hems of a shift and a dress.
Kriemler used a photo print of architect and Vienna Secession founder Joseph Maria Olbrich's Wedding Tower for an otherwise understated sheath and a floor-length cape, both in double-face wool. It's not a sure thing that the Akris woman will want to wear something quite so overt, relatively speaking. As for something that will be on her playlist, that's easy: the new additions to the house's burgeoning bag line, horsehair iPad cases.
