Karan is a great diva, with all the eccentricities and the endless talent of one. Currently celebrating 10 years on her own, she climbed to stardom within five years after leaving the Anne Klein company. With designer prices rising, Karan became a true superstar in 1989 when she revolutionized the industry with the introduction of DKNY, a sporty, less-expensive label.
Unfortunately, the great diva's performance this time did not live up to her reputation. She was off-key with a meager performance that left her audience wondering whether her skills are waning or whether she came up wanting when she sought inspiration.
Her show Friday in New York was the final fall preview of the designer showcases that opened in Milan in early March and moved to Paris before concluding in New York last week. Across the board, there is a return to elegant wearable clothes instead of the usual hideous monstrosities that excite fashion editors but turn off real women.
Karan has been a heroine to real women because of her belief that women want timeless, sensual and modern clothes. But this time, she was upstaged by those who came in the final days before her - Calvin Klein, Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, and Isaac Mizrahi, all of whom were in top form. Patrick Robinson, the new designer at Anne Klein, made an impressive debut.
Rather than the joyous burst of sensual feminine clothes that are her signature, Karan poured forth with a gloomy, doomy selection of dark and dour clothes.
Like a parade of mourners, models with black headbands and somber expressions walked down the runway in almost nothing but black. Black skinny pants. Black cashmere coats, jackets and sweaters. Black crepe chemises. Black leathers. Black long, clingy knit dresses that were difficult for even the models to wear. The clothes were less sleek than straight on the body.
