With awards season around the corner, Pre-Fall is a good moment to roll out red carpet fare, especially for a designer like Zac Posen, who specializes in event dresses. There were some of those here, the best a somewhat restrained black gown with a dramatic arabesque of silk on one shoulder, the most grandiose in emerald green tech duchesse with a skirt of pleated godets better suited to a museum show than an awards ceremony.
The news was the way Posen continued to push his repertoire in multiple directions, experimenting with his tailoring on the one hand, and on the other, playing around with sundresses in Liberty floral prints. The trapeze-shaped dresses had a bohemian, even latter-day flower child aspect—a real surprise chez Posen. You won’t be seeing them at the Golden Globes, but it’s a good bet they’ll be making the rounds at next summer’s weddings.
Suiting got a fair bit of the designer’s attention. In the case of a floral jacquard that was treated to a splicing and folding treatment that the studio dubbed the “Braque technique” for its evocative cubist patterns, perhaps too much attention. A Le Smoking with asymmetric lapels maintained some of that Braque-like experimentation, but came off more effortlessly.
