Heron Preston’s love letter to New York,“Anything Goes.” #NYFW

Heron Preston ❤️s New York. “My mission is to celebrate the people that make New York the city that it is,” Preston said in the notes for his fall show titled “Anything Goes.”

The celebration began with three workers wearing classic orange safety vests who spray-painted colorful, meandering lines on the cement floor of the otherwise unadorned space, creating a large, random design. Then out came Preston’s crew of New Yorkers clad in deftly layered looks that went heavy on the workwear.

Leather and canvas played hero roles, the former distressed and worked into boxy jackets, pants, miniskirts and a cropped patch-pocket shirt, and the latter, variously distressed or brightly dyed, as in a fresh iteration of the classic fireman’s toggle coat. Preston also employed some less utilitarian materials – faux fur, including for fuzzy statement boots for both men and women, and chainmail, which brought sparkly panache to a barely there minidress. For the graphic-tee inclined, there were logos galore, many rendered in neon motocross-inspired fonts.

The designer’s penchant for inventive, offbeat details elevated the proceedings and provided much to consider. A barbed-wire trim lent an air of winky menace to a slipdress, while a carabiner-clip closure added dimension to an otherwise minimalist white tailored jacket.

Pieces from a ski-and-snowboard capsule included pants, a cropped white puffer and goggles. Though serious performance fare, they’ll look equally at home on a winter F Train as on a chairlift. But then, just about everything on view (save for a Nearly Naked Lady look or two) could have walked off that indoor concrete and onto the exterior concrete of the city streets. Preston showed the clothes as real people might wear them (more or less) in looks from polished (short black puffer over hoodie over sleek skirt) to undone (work shirt over ripped jeans and a sweater the moths got to).

As for Preston’s city dwellers, they meandered about pursued by a dogged photographer, anonymous behind his balaclava. If it seemed that they all hail from a specific cohort – that of Gotham’s achingly coolest Gen-Zers – well, this is fashion, and cool counts. But from Day One, Preston has proudly set his sights on a wider constituency as well; he even launched his brand in collaboration with the NYC Department of Sanitation. While the cool kids will love this collection, it’s filled with imaginative yet classic, wearable pieces that should resonate as well with the kinds of New Yorkers – and others – with more muted tastes and less swagger. Quite the celebration!