This was Alexander Wang's largest pre-fall collection to date—the result of a shift in priorities. "We're bulking up pre-fall so that buyers come in [and see] a big part of what we have to offer as a brand, and then come in to Fall to focus on the [runway]," the designer said.
This was undeniably a collection made to sell, stocked as it was from one end of a rack to another with solid Wang classics: biker jackets, pale washed denims, easy silk jersey dresses, slouchy knits, and lean tailored blazers. "It's our best-selling pieces with a lighter hand and a new femininity," Wang said. You saw an unaccustomed softness in a biker jacket in unlined caramel suede instead of black leather, and in the subtle flash of zipper edges on white shirting where once there might have been sharp studs. Even the new version of the Diego hobo, called the Robin, is considerably lightened up in the hardware department.
A slim leather shirtdress and wool pencil skirt with a trumpet hem that reached below the knee also spoke to the grown-up direction with which Wang has been flirting for a few seasons. There was a restrained elegance to a simple jersey dancer's dress with a midi hem and pretty draped back. If Wang's commercial bent seems a bit un-fun for his dedicated twentysomething customer, she can comfort herself in that patch-pocketed denim vest with chunky ribbed knit sleeves, while looking forward to the more directional pieces that are sure to be in his runway show.
