NYFW: designers revive trends from previous season

By: Esra Erdogan/Columnist

Another New York fashion week has come and gone, and my finger hurts from clicking through all the shows on Style.com. Everything was beautiful and inspirational, save for the witch shoes and funky hats of Marc Jacobs.

The funny thing about his collection was that the clothes were breathtaking but the accessories were horrible.

Maybe Jacobs was making some sort of commentary about how designers make their accessories the high point of their designs instead of focusing on the garments.

Once upon a time, accessories were mere afterthoughts, but with the explosion of street-style fashion on the Internet, images of shoes and bags permeate more quickly and become easier to identify, and therefore, make tons of dough for designers.

While browsing through the runway shows and presentations for next fall, I noticed something very peculiar: color was everywhere.

Bright oranges and reds popped up all over town, making the neon trend that still continues more accessible for the wearer.

Longer hems, especially pencil-skirt length, dominated almost everywhere as well. Fashion is not ready for us to bare our legs yet, which will take some adjusting to for those of us who live in warmer climates.

Marchesa and Marc Jacobs showed many colorful, metallic-infused textured damask and paisley prints that look wonderful when contrasted with darker-colored knits.

Band of Outsiders and J. Crew Collection also showed printed pants in plaids, polka dots and paisley, and paired them with fun, bright-colored jackets.

Oversized jackets and tops are still big at Band of Outsiders, meaning you can keep your Forever 21 blazers in rotation for another year.

I know many of you are probably sick of stripes by now, but do not write them off just yet. Stripes in various widths and colors are still in, especially on pants.

You can “do it yourself” by sewing craft ribbon in bright colors on the side seam of jeans, shorts or trousers.

While most of the above have been done before, albeit not without twists here and there, there were a few completely new ideas.

Alexander Wang introduced a lot of textured leather in various colors, as well as 3.1 Phillip Lim with a suede-green leather jacket that I cannot get out of my head. Lim also presented subtle bell sleeves on sweaters and jackets that surprisingly do not look like costumes.

Metallic accents in unlikely colors, like green and orange, were all over Rag and Bone and Theyskens’ Theory in the form of military jackets and boleros.

My absolute favorite looks were by Derek Lam and Victoria Beckham. Lam’s inverted lace prints were to die for, but I mostly fell in love with his all-white ensembles.

The contrast of cozy knits with sheer, long skirts in creme and white is easily replicable and totally chic.

Beckham’s collection was all body-conscious dresses with either a short voluminous skirt or a long straight skirt.

What I love about her collection is the simplicity of the lines and the bold colors, allowing you to picture yourself wearing it all as you see it in an image.

There are six months between now and when these collections hit stores, which is a flaw of the fashion industry, but it does give me the time to think about what I will really want to be wearing next year.

Haute Topic is a weekly fashion column. Look for it every Wednesday this spring. Email her  at esra.erdogan@fiusm.com.