Highlights and Lowlights from New York Fashion Week: An Insider's Guide to Fabulous

Another New York Fashion Week has come and gone, and what a week it was! Easily the best this reporter has ever seen. And as usual, it ran the gamut, from the practicality of Zander Nouveau's ready-to-wear furniture to the surreal, post-apocalyptic sundresses from Thom Guzzardo. 

By the time we arrived at the closing ceremony, where garments deemed unsuitable or unnecessary are burned in front of a group of needy families, there were enough moments, memories and styles to last a lifetime. Or at least a trend cycle!

We certainly saw a little bit of everything this year. A collection made entirely of baby hair? Check. The return of Velcro shoes? Check. Avian models? Yep, had those too (pulled off, as regular readers likely guessed, by the visionaries at Boysenberry). In are powdered wigs and capri shirts. Out are neck braces and two-tone leather hats.

So who were the big winners and losers? As you might guess with a subject this open to interpretation, opinions are varied. It's like we in the business always say, "One man's sock, is another man's thumbless mitten." But as usual, there were plenty of obvious hits and misses. Here are some who distinguished themselves, for better or worse.

Winners
Ö
The German prodigy had his detractors coming in to this week. "Too raw," they said. "Too daffy." He silenced them. A show featuring models slathered in honey straddling hibernating bears will do that. The honey could have made properly lighting the intricately embroidered dickies a real headache, but it was pulled off with aplomb. Sorry naysayers, Ö is a rising star. Get yourself a telescope.


Sandra Fernandez Sanchez Rodriguez
Fernandez Sanchez Rodriguez thrilled us (what else is new?) with her gritty Adobe Tree House collection. Partially inspired by her working class youth spent rock farming in southern Arizona, it's shabby chic meets shabby. The eco-friendly garments are constructed of 90% recycled dirt clumps and cannot be sweat in or worn in precipitation.


Serfs
Not the Norwegian thread house located in the fishing village of Fjellværsøya, but the actual low level assistants who normally spend much of Fashion Week alternating corners in which to quietly weep. But I cannot recall a year when I saw fewer reduced to tears. By this reporter's count, only two headsets were broken backstage, and only one was purposely bashed over someone's skull. So for the first time in my 18 years of attending this event, I can say: good for you, sad, poorly compensated disposables doing all of the actual work.

Horatio Fellatio
His codpieces have been talked about in underground circles for decades, but they've only recently gained mainstream recognition. It's much deserved and long overdue. The intricate feathering and hand stitching on his Dream Catcher line is unlike anything else available in the world of crotch pouches. So breathtaking was the presentation that Target made an immediate bid to carry the collection in their stores. Will it be palatable to the masses? Who cares. It's the definition of fierce.


Losers
Thor Sanskrit
Sanskrit's backstory is well documented. Born eight months premature with only half an eye, he was mistakenly placed in a trash bin outside the hospital where he still lives to this day. He began studying at the knee of legendary designer Jeffery St. George at age 12, so he has the pedigree. But half an eye or not, there's no excuse for the translucent inseam on his otherwise marvelous stirrup bodysuits.


Fever Dream
Ever the promotional innovators, Brooklyn duo Fever Dream began a viral marketing blitz surrounding their pet project, Unperfect, months in advance of their show. The buzz coming in was considerable. Some said it was a collection of leather neckties for women. Others said scarves that were acually venomous snakes. But the collection was revealed to be nothing more than a reinterpretation of their already popular macramé turtlenecks. Seen it.


Bertrams & Van Nord
Pierce Bertrams and Giles Van Nord have outfitted everyone from Ke$ha to the Archduke of Liechtenstein. They're firmly established in the consciousness of both the culturally elite and the general public. They're untouchable. Teflon. And that's the problem, they know it. Which explains why, when the curtain was pulled back to unveil their Troubadour "collection," there was but a rack of empty hangers there to greet a stunned audience. Brilliant. But then, the hangers never made their way down the catwalk. Were they plastic? Metal? Could they have been wood? Or maybe they had those clips on them that almost never work? I wish I could tell you. We never got a good look. Pure hubris.


Yoshi Han Yoshi
This was supposed to be the cult fashion icon's arrival on the grandest stage, but all in attendance agreed this one missed the mark. Going with a pilgrim theme was risky. Also making them clowns was even riskier. Sorry, Yoshi. We could have overlooked the buckle shoes if they weren't also comically oversized.


Tweet
Image via.