Bold, elegant, frivolous

Top designers pulled in celebrity guests and models on day four of New York Fashion Week Sunday, with highlights from Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan and Versus Versace.
    British super model Naomi Campbell and Kim Kardashian’s younger half-sister Kendall sashayed down the runway at von Furstenberg’s French Riveria inspired 2015 spring/summer collection.
    Gingham, already on view at Altuzarra on Saturday, made a re-appearance, fashioned by von Furstenberg in black and white, or blue, in cropped shorts, silk jersey dresses, poplin tops and on sandals and handbags.
    Campbell closed the show. US “it” girl Paris Hilton and sister Nicki sat in the audience, as did actress Allison Williams from hit TV show “Girls” and Chirlane McCray, wife of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
    Campbell put in a second appearance at the celebrity-studded after party hosted by Donatella Versace to celebrate Belgian-Italian designer Anthony Vaccarello’s first runway show for the brand.
    Donatella, 59, dressed in a little black dress embellished with gold safety pins from the catwalk, entertained Campbell, Barbadian superstar Rihanna and actress Jennifer Hudson.
    Champagne flowed and candy stations dished out lollipops and chocolates, as paparazzi photographed Donatella’s every move and burly bodyguards kept TV cameras from getting too close.
    Vaccarello’s high-energy show was a study in black and gold, white and silver, leather and meshing in the traditional Versace sexy, slinky, bling style.
    The little black dress – a staple of any women’s wardrobe – was the centrepiece, reworked in multiple ways: held together with gold safety pins, slashed at the crotch, slashed at one thigh or given a mesh train.
    There were sharp black jackets with military-style gold buttons, and gold buckles on wide black belts and black stilettos.
    Black gowns were cut deep at the chest and held up by the thinnest of gold metal coils and a black leather miniskirt with gold buttons down the front.
    Gold also played a starring role in the form of a gold leather miniskirt with gold safety pins to one side, and a gold blazer paired with tight black trousers.
    For men, there was a black leather shirt with gold buttons. Besides the preponderance of black, there were shirts, trousers, miniskirts and bomber jackets in white with black geometric patterns.
    Across town, Spice Girl turned footballer’s wife turned designer Victoria Beckham unveiled a collection showcasing safari chic and her first shoe line.
    Husband David, popular in the United States thanks to his retail underwear line and footballing career at LA Galaxy, sat in the front row with eldest son Brooklyn and Anna Wintour, the English editor-in-chief of Vogue.
    Victoria said the imminent opening of her first flagship store in London had “inspired and pushed” her “to focus on the DNA of my brand more than ever.”
    Long a fan of a very precise, tailored silhouette, her spring/summer 2015 collection showcased a safari look.
    There were mini-dresses with boxy pockets, hopsack-style; a long, belted coat; shirts with shoulder pads; as well as a black jacket with shoulder pads worn over a long white dress with wide black stripes at the bottom.
    There were also some floral prints, a rarity for Beckham.
Beckham said she wanted to create “an eclectic uniform in the form of an exact yet wearable wardrobe that embodies the evolution of the collection”.
    But the chatter after the show was all about her first shoe collection: towering platform black sandals edged with beige, and white leather flats decorated with flowers.
    “Creating all the elements of the collection under one roof enabled me to complete and strengthen the silhouette and this has been key in the design journey for me,” she said.
Alexander Wang proved himself one of the biggest innovators with a fast tempo, uber-cool catwalk show that won personal praise from style icon Rihanna.
    Wang’s 2015 spring/summer collection for his eponymous label saw impeccable tailoring brought up to the minute with leather, string meshing and rubber to refine the urban, androgynous look for which he is famous.
    There were none of the delicate colours that had characterised lesser catwalks. Instead, the 30-year-old whiz kid indulged his love of black, pairing it with white, orange, green, blue, yellow or pink.
    Monochrome looks of black and white – tight trousers with sharp creases, tasselled mini skirts and string tops – were enlivened by innovative heeled shoes in blue and pink providing a splash of colour.
    There were leather crop tops, a beige rubber mini dress that resembled the tread of a car tire, and a leather and mesh biker jacket, then grey suiting.
    Textures were enlivened by tops encrusted with beads on the front or string-strapped crop tops fashioned from coiled thread.
    Models belted down the runway, hair scrapped back and faces, to high-tempo techno music met by rapturous applause and cat calls.
    Wang, who dropped out of design school to set up his own label, is one of the most successful American designers of his generation.
    Since 2012, he has also been creative director of Balenciaga, the first American in more than 10 years to run an old-school French couture house. In November, a collection for retailer H&M is due to hit stores.