All week long designers have been touting the transitional nature of their Pre-Fall collections. Leave it to Michael Kors to give the idea a clever name; "from bikinis to boots" was how he described his lineup. True to his word, his clothes spanned seasons: Bare, breezy dresses mingled with a Mongolian lamb-lined patent coat, and hot on the heels of a jaguar mink jacket came a sailor-stripe lace tunic and lace pants. An all-American color palette of red, blue, white, black, and camel gave the collection an appealing crispness; ditto the graphic stripes, polka dots, and bows (a first for the designer). Kors mentioned three different women as muses: Baby Jane Holzer, Winona Ryder, and Taylor Swift. An eclectic list, to be sure, and a nod perhaps to Kors' all-ages clientele. But it gave him an excuse to riff on 1960s shapes like a mod, double-breasted coat and cropped pants, as well as more modern ones, such as his tuxedo-track pant hybrids. "Tabletop dressing" is a concept as old as Holzer, but Kors resurrected the term here to describe a fabulous little black dress with a halter collar. "It's all about the neckline," he said. Other standouts included a plonge leather jean jacket worn with a stripey knit and a dark denim skirt, and a sequined rugby and deep cuff jeans that would get the Taylor Swift seal of approval.
