NYFW: The Shows Day 7 – Looking for Timeless, Well-Constructed Eye-Catching Clothes? Yes? ... Yes. Then,Try on Raul Penaranda and Chiara Boni La Petite Robe

From the Raul Penaranda S/S 2016 collections. Photos by Yours Truly.

Some of the players on Day 7: Suno, Raul Penaranda, Michael Kors, Delpozo, Paul Andrew, Parsons MFA, Naeem Khan, Boss, DKNY, The Adam Levine Collection Presented by Shop Your Way Brands/Kmart, Chiara Boni La Petite Robe, Theory, Cynthia Rowley, Greg Lauren, Proenza Schouler, The Blonds, Thomas Wylde, Stella Nolasco, Bibhu Mohapatra, J. Crew, Anna Sui, Demoo Parkchoonmoo

IT has been a difficult fashion week for various reasons around changes in venue, management and best practices.

Ask anybody who has been attending shows – whether covering, working backstage or examining goods for purchase. But I digress before I make my actual point.

Certainly, it has been a difficult fashion week. It has also been a good fashion week from a creative perspective. This observation is based on the shows I have seen. There are any number that fail to capture my interest or imagination because the collections are created more out of commercial expediency than any other factor.

Of course, all of these frocks bounding down runways, catwalks and standing around rooms are for sale. Fashion week is a tradeshow, after all, lest one forget in the maelstrom of activity around any celebrity-accented frontrow.

But must craft be sacrificed in the doing? Absotively not!

Two lines that strike a good balance between commerce and creativity (craft) are Raul Penaranda and Chiara Boni La Petite Robe. The talent behind both – F.I.T.-trained Raul Penaranda and self-taught Chiara Boni – launched in 2010 and 2007, respectively.

Though they have a different design aesthetic, they have a similar design ethic: Not trying to reinvent the wheel and not trying to please one and all. At the moment that is the highest compliment that can be bestowed on these artists, for one is at a loss for more words. It should be noted, though, that the designers like a bright, bold color for S/S 2016. Watch the videos; see the photos.

Two brands peddling the kind of product one hopes will abound during future New York Fashion Week: The Shows, or whatever moniker this affair deigns to affix to itself.

Raul Penaranda and Chiara Boni La Petite Robe know what they are about.

Chiara Boni La Petite Robe

From the Chiara Boni La Petite Robe S/S 2016 collections. Photos by Yours Truly.



From the Chiara Boni La Petite Robe S/S 2016 collections. Photos courtesy of Chiara Boni La Petite Robe.

On deck today, LAST DAY: CFDA (Fashion Incubator) S/S 2016 NYFW: Market, Ralph Lauren, J Mendel, Calvin Klein, Helen Yarmak, Marc Jacobs, Verge: Queer New York Fashion Week
Visit http://www.nyfw.com/ to learn more about New York Fashion Week: The Shows, including show information, videos and installations.