Goodbye, grey: Colour’s back for spring
Samantha Critchell

NEW YORK—After a season of grey, expect spring fashions to pop in technicolour. The runways at New York Fashion Week were awash with colour Thursday, from candy-hued magentas and yellows to muted shades of blush pink, light tan and dusty blue. It’s a far cry from the grey that dominated the fall lines.
Sunny yellow and candylike pink and blue created the palette for Miss Sixty (where the skinny jean lives on), while standouts at Bill Blass came in blush-coloured silk-satin and gunmetal silk organza. At Cynthia Steffe, sherbet colours provided the pop, and at Nicole Miller late Wednesday, stained-glass prints and earthy colours dominated.
Michael Fink, fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue, said it wasn’t yet clear what the big colour story will be: candy-coloured brights, subdued cosmetics colours or black and white. The only mistake, he said, would be to wear any of them head to toe.
New York Fashion Week lasts eight days, previewing the spring-summer looks of 60 designers for fashion editors, retail buyers and stylists. Highlights this season will include Ralph Lauren celebrating his 40 years in fashion with a black-tie dinner Saturday night.

BADGLEY MISCHKA

Badgley Mischka offered a grand mix of town and country.
The upscale label that has been a favourite source of eveningwear for celebrities and socialites has made an effort over the last two years to diversify its offerings, which meant a parade of Badgley Mischka gowns, day dresses, pants, shoes, sunglasses, swimwear, hats and handbags.
“There were glamorous gowns to weekend chic. It really was a modern way of thinking,” said Michael Fink, fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue.
An orange-and-black print tunic with black wool pants — wide legs were the standard here — was topped with a brown shantung jacket that had just a bit of sheen. A dark denim jacket with half sleeves and a brown-and-black print camisole were worn with pants made of that same shantung fabric.
A coat covered in a yellow, black and white floral was graphic but not overpowering — and it looked just right over a simple black gauze dress. “Desperate Housewives’” Teri Hatcher, who stars in the current Badgley Mischka ad campaign, sat in the front row at the show. Perhaps she was shopping for a gown for the upcoming Emmy awards.
Choices included a pink-and-white stripe chiffon gown with dainty pink beading along the halter neck, a black-and-nude chiffon gown with asymmetrical pleat details that all came together around a crystal belt buckle or a breezy chiffon gown in a violet, white and black print with a delicately beaded waistband that had a panel of fabric trail behind it.
CYNTHIA STEFFE
The collection presented by Cynthia Steffe designer Waleed Khairzada on Thursday at New York Fashion Week was called “Sonic.” It could have been called sherbet.
The colours were what seemed to jump off the runway. There was a mix of fuschia, green, turquoise, poppy and citrine. “A palette of clear neon brights ... is grounded by mineral colours and earth tones,” Khairzada explained in his notes to the press, retailers and stylists at the show.
One of the emerging trends from these spring previews is colour-blocking: mixing a handful of colours on a single garment but not in a purposeful print. Instead, it’s about having one colour around the neck, another for the bodice and another for the hem. Examples from Cynthia Steffe include an asymmetrical knit dress with magenta, black and green, and the “barcode” dress with horizontal stripes in blue and red against a white backdrop.
This was yet another catwalk that was defined by its dresses, but Khairzada did offer a handful of “Montauk” shorts, presumably named for the Long Island, N.Y., vacation community that’s considered one of the more casual parts of the Hamptons. The best way to describe the shorts is looser and more relaxed than their Bermuda cousins.