The day after Dennis Basso’s first runway show at the Regency Hotel in 1983, Ivana Trump stopped by his showroom unannounced to order seven coats, crowning him the go-to furrier for New York’s well-heeled women. Flash forward 40 years and not much has changed — they are still his stock-in-trade.
Backstage, Basso said, “I went back to my archives and took a little piece of something that I learned from each decade and translated it for the modern American woman,” noting he views her as being international and, whether strutting down Park Avenue or jetting off to Hong Kong, wants her to look and feel her best.
The show opened with twinset hooded coats in chocolate brown Russian sable not too dissimilar from the one he provided Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly character with in “The Devil Wears Prada.” These gave way to some sassy evening boleros in navy lynx and emerald fox, showing off Basso’s more playful approach to the material. “It’s all about glamor. It’s all about fun,” he said.
Addressing the return to going-out fashion, there were ombre tiered dresses and duchesse satin ballskirts with silvery floral motifs shown next to curvier styles in lace or embellished tweed. But the collection’s easier separates — like a pair of ethereal chiffon pants worn with a gold wrap-tunic or a creamy mink fringe cape hovering above wide leg-jacquard trousers — proved most elegant, especially for entertaining at home.
Basso prefers to go big, not go home. Hence, mutton-style sleeve treatments that only appeared to get bigger as the show progressed. The winner for biggest sleeves of all went to Beverly Johnson, who closed the show in a sweeping gold opera coat.
