For the most part, Tribeca is a fairly quiet neighborhood. It’s filled with fashion industry types, art collectors, celebrities, and fit, fancy moms. There are a couple of hotels and a handful of restaurants, but typically one needs to venture up to Soho or over to Chinatown for the loud noise and brazen chaos this city is famous for. This week, Tribeca got a jolt. In celebration of her Resort 2019 collection, designer Lela Rose led a full-on marching band and parade of editors, buyers, and friends from Duane Park (about 10 minutes northeast) to the front door of the fabulous loft apartment where she entertains weekly. The band played songs by Bruno Mars and Beyoncé while baton twirlers skipped across Hudson Street and PR personnel handed out balloons and small bunches of pastel roses. There were models, too, blissfully dance-walking their way to the designer’s home dressed in bright pieces from a diverse collection that included a green long-sleeved frock with a flattering square neckline, a purple drop-waist minidress over fuchsia trousers, and a navy flower-print pajama set.
Rose’s presentations are always spectacles in one way or the other. If they aren’t being held in a park with gourmet hot dogs, they’re executed as beautiful lunches or dinners inside new and trendy restaurants. Her second passion, after designing, is entertaining people. This was certainly one of her more over-the-top to-dos, which is perhaps slightly surprising for a preseason affair. But it all made sense when you stopped marching along with the show and really thought about it: Her pieces are made for women like her who love to throw a dinner party, and at the same time for those who attend events and want to turn heads when they walk in. Rose has long pleased her clientele with pretty, uncomplicated garments that are beautifully constructed. Her fans will no doubt be happy with the offering this season. If they can have a little fun and dance through their own quiet neighborhoods in the clothes, too, even better.
