Day 2 NYFW: Bang, Bang '... Is Futile'

The silver fox fur opened the Farah Angsana Fall 2011 show to reveal a little suprise underneath. Photo by Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images.

HEAD’S UP: It’s now a tradition at VEVLYN’S PEN. The plan each day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is to give a roundup of the best (and worse where applicable) and most interesting, from shows to trends to sightings to the rather unusual/bizarre. This go round Yours Truly has a wingwoman in the person of Dame Francesca Simon. Even with two of us, though, we really, really can’t be everywhere. But we will be where something is happening and will keep you in the loop. Drum roll, please …

Day 2
(SOME of the players at the tents and elsewhere): Costello Tagliapietra, Cynthia Rowley, Doo.Ri, Jason Wu, Jeremy Laing, NAHM, Nicole Miller, Peter Som, Rag & Bone, Rebecca Minkoff, Rebecca Taylor, Ruffian, Tess Giberson, The Lake & Stars, Threeasfour, Perry Ellis, Farah Angsana, Norman Ambrose, Joy Cioci, Academy of Art University, Venexiana

BY FRANCESCA SIMON

MOST GLAMOROUS SHOW – With “Bang, Bang” playing in the background Farah Angsana came out shooting. FA is a fur girl and she came with no apologies for putting on the glamour by immortalizing our furry friends. The first on the runway was a Silver Fox formed into a stunning coat. The model snuggled it tight around her. When she reached the foot of the runway she ripped it open to reveal a black silk embellished lace tulle corset. After that, it was on!

The FINALE: White silk crystal encrusted gown with feathers, organza ruffles and silver fox stole from the Fall 2011 Farah Angsana collection. Photo by Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images.

To the tune of pumped-up house music came a series of showstopping mini- cocktail dresses. She brought a bit of mystery by masking one model who slinked down the runway in a black silk charmeuse dresse with a plunging back and beaded sleeves. The minis bring to mind the 60s when fur was chic and no one felt ashamed for wearing a fox.

While the first run was for the young with long legs and narrow thighs, the next moved into classic cuts for the older woman and more voluptuous frames. An intriguing black silk, wool and cashmere coat with a sassy cape back was no doubt designed for the confident woman who has come of age. A gorgeous one-sleeved crystal black embellished cocktail dress was perfect for the women who may not like her thighs but who takes pride in Michelle Obama-esque arms!

Another stunner was a blue silk, wool gown with a jet-bead cap sleeve bolero. This is a winning look for the woman who may have arm sag. For those with good back sides and no oblique fat is a backless teal silk chiffon satin hand-draped gown. Last but not least is an aubergine silk chiffon satin halter neckline gown with a beaded waistline. It has added texture and the illusion of length for the short-waisted set ...

And the mention for best makeup goes to ... Tune back in later for the deets. Photo by David Vincent Glackin.

“In my house! In my house! In my house!” exclaimed a soulful voice to a bass dance beat. It was evident now that FS meant business. The silver fox returned reincarnated as a stole, wrapped around a white silk crystal encrusted gown with feather and organza ruffles aka The Finale. After gasps of pleasure came only a rumbling of applause until the lady herself emerged to receive her due glory – in her house!

BEST MODEL CASTING – Mennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!! God bless Perry Ellis creative director John Crocco for putting on the runway broad-shouldered, “meat-on-thighs” with at least a suggestion of backside. Why such enthusiasm? It is born of the aftermath of memories from the Duckie Brown show yesterday. Designers Daniel Silver and Steven Cox showed fabulous eight-pleated trousers but the models were too skinny to do the duds justice. PE’s pack could have pulled off DB’s threads in grand man fashion.

Perry Ellis was American style at its best: Exuberant, accessible, laidback and easygoing. NY Giants offensive tackle William Beatty was on the front row for the parade of outerwear ensembles that started the show. Strutting to the strains of Neil Young “Hey, Hey My My,” the “all-American” boys made their way down the runway with natural athletic grace in parkas, peacoats, trenches and toggles.

On show, too, were the hues of the classic fall palette: gray, green, beige and winter white. Even here, the models were a good fit – at least their names were. “Arthur” stood apart in a wool-plaid cropped peacoat, followed by “Jacob” in a chintzed-wool tuxedo coat atop a charcoal cotton houndstooth cardigan. “Chad” was turned out in an alpaca herringbone country trench coat with a Shitake-colored lambswool turtle neck.

Broad-shouldered “Florian” filled out the fine-gauge stripe polo nicely, as well as the shitake lambswool turtleneck and camel wool herringbone striped trousers. “Sean O.” scored points in the colorblocked shearling Eisenhower with a camel cotton and wool-textured shawl collar, plus vanilla wool Prince of Wales trousers. And he brought sexy back by baring his chest in a cotton-braided cable coat. Well, he didn’t actually bare his chest, but there was no shirt underneath and a number of women took note.

An ensemble from the Fall 2011 Perris Ellis collection. Photo by Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images.

In a brilliant marketing move and a first for the label, Perry Ellis made 10 looks available for sale immediately after the show on its Facebook Fanpage. There’s a catch though: shoppers must first “friend” Perry Ellis.

At the finale, these tall, smooth-walking, full-bodied specimen returned to the runway en masse sans shoes wearing Perry Ellis-emblazoned sweatshirts and longjohns. Man! ... – Written and reported by Francesca Simon

BEST HAIR – – Kudos to Frank Rizzieri (www.rSessionTools.com) for coiffing those full, thick heads of hair at Perry Ellis and buffing the ones that sported the close cuts, as well as “bald is best.” – Written and reported by Francesca Simon

BEST WITTY REJOINDER, AND NO TRUER WORDS WERE EVER SPOKEN – Here’s the scene: Yours Truly making haste in to the Fashion Week tents at Lincoln Center to discard coat and find spot in media pit to put finishes touches on Day 1 coverage for her gentle readers. Southern Belle that she is, she cannot possibly darken the doors of the tent without even a cursory hello to the attentive guards. What ensues:

Yours Truly: (To the guard, her Fashion Week protector and friend): Morning.
Guard: (Without skipping a beat) Yes, it is.

True that. – By Yours Truly, Vevlyn Wright

BEST SPECTACLE – Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Superman? No, none of the above. It/He is a spawn of The Borg (“Star Trek: The Next Generation"). His mission is to come to earth to assimilate the fashion world. (Check out that guitar purse. Smashing!)

Eleven of Twenty is on mission at Fashion Week. Photo by David Vincent Glackin.

Perhaps, he can start by programming into Rebecca Taylor a little more imagination with embellishments, fabrics and cuts. Her color control centers seem to be functioning properly, but much else is on the blink. Then, he can place hands on the other Rebecca, Minkoff, to implant a chip into her memory bank that can be activated when she next casts models. The recording will say: “You will not choose models whose hip bones/rib cage are visible through your sleek, little leggings and bold tunics” … Resistance is futile, ladies.

What shall we call him? Yes – Eleven of Twenty. He appeared out of the clear blue sometime yesterday at the tents at Lincoln Center. Think his spacecaft detected the "boom, boom, boom" streaming out of the tents? Or was he tipped off that the second day of Fashion Week might be a bit problematic on the creative side with few exceptions (Norman Ambrose, Byron Lars)?

As one suspected all along, fashion attracts all manner of life forms from strange new and bold, other worlds. – By Yours Truly, Vevlyn Wright

More from Day 2 shortly. Meanwhile see shows/highlights: http://www.mbfashionweek.com/