Michael Kors Visits an Urban Resort NYFW

Michael Kors created quite a frenzy for 10 a.m. A huge gaggle of onlookers watched as a bevy of celebrities made their way inside his venue – Anne Hathaway, Serena Williams and Vanessa Hudgens among them. Even better, he invited a lucky contingent of students from his alma mater, the Fashion Institute of Technology, to take in the show.

They arrived to a set that was a big tell: a maze of sleek unframed mirrors backing endless rows of densely packed tropical greenery. The combination foretold Michael Kors’ theme for spring: Urban Resort.

Over the years, Kors has invoked both sides of that duality, handling them in various ways – humor, reserve, euphoria, discretion. This season, he put his more ebullient inclinations aside in favor of pared-down clothes with an ultra-chic attitude.

Kors is not one for tricks, or arcane manifestations of his stated motifs. Here, the divide was as direct as could be with obvious iterations: citified tailoring played against languid travel-ready clothes, often in the same look. It was the execution of each, and the seamless integration of the oppositional elements, that made the show compelling. It also allowed Kors to play into the season’s skin-baring trend with a level of sophistication to which his customers will respond. Beautifully tailored jackets topped matching skirts sans shirt, or were tossed casually over resort separates, for example, a swim bandeau and leg-baring sarong skirt. Kors repeated the sarong in numerous variations, sometimes dripping with swingy fringe.

For ladies who like more coverage in the sun, caftans came printed and solid. An impressive evening range included two linear beauties – one fuchsia, one acid green, secured with signature archival gold metal fastenings. They oozed glamour with a casual attitude. Save for such hardware and some all-over sequins, Kors kept obvious decorative flourish to a minimum, putting the attention on cut and color. To that end, he struck a good balance between neutrals and brights, making liberal use of tomato red.

The show offered one oddity – music selection. The acoustic performance was a pleasure, but from a potential playlist zillions of titles deep, why cover one strongly associated with another very famous designer, and a contemporary, to boot? To show-goers of a certain age (and there are still some of us left), Tom Ford owns the theoretical runway rights to Killing Me Softly. In the midst of this very beautiful, very signature Michael Kors show, why ring that bell? Otherwise, it was a gem.