From NYFW Fall 2017 Day 3: Taking the Heat for Georgine, and Not Regretting It … Taoray Wang Suits Up in Some Unexpected Ways

Some of the players on Day 3: Georgine, Francesca Liberatore, Paul Andrew, Lacoste, Adam Lippes, Jill Stuart, Taoray Wang, Creatures of the Wind, Romeo Hunte, Ryan Roche, Yuna Yang, Tibi, Son Juan Wan, Dion Lee, Banana Republic, Christian Siriano, Johnathan Simkhai, A Detacher, Simon Miller, Area, Mac Duggal, Julianna Bass, Sheguang Hu, Alexander Wang, Laurence & Chico, Mason Sylvester

BY VW

I am silently quoting Nelly:

It's getting hot in here, so hot, so take off all your clothes.

At Skylight Clarkson, where a number of Fall 2017 New York Fashion Week: The Shows are being staged, it is sweltering.

Alas, a thousand times alas, those responsible for temperature control did not take into account that all of the equipment necessary to make the warehouse operational would generate as much heat as that emanating from the hundreds of bodies also therein, therefore making it absolutely imperative to install air conditioning. Even though it is winter.

So everyone is overheated. I am especially so, squeezed in on a secondary front row of the Georgine show.

It's getting hot in here, so hot, so take off all your clothes.

From the Fall 2017 Georgine collection. Photo by VW.

I am not certain why this show is so crowded. Is it because designer Georgine Ratelband is inspired by famous hotels and the mythical hotels of song and film titles: The Ritz, The Bates Motel, Hotel California?

Perhaps, it is because the secret is out about the designer. That GR is quite the little craftsman. Or is it craftswoman. Craftsperson?

In any case, she can sew well or has the eye for detail to direct the seamstresses to so well. Yet, her craft goes deeper than that. She seems to possess an innate understanding of the characteristics of fabric.

This is dawning on me as I observe some dresses and skirts in what appears to be a lightweight silk or satin. Forgive me, I am unable to say which hotel they represent because I am too squashed in to consult the run of show (show program). Plus, I am trying to capture some decent images on my mobile phone.

What is apparent is that the designer understands that this particular fabric must be cut in a particular way to produce the undulating effect achieved when one is in transit. I should add that GR is not trying to reinvent the wheel; she merely gives it a fine polish.

That alone is worth one’s momentary discomfort.

TAORAY WANG

From the Taoray Fall 2017 collection. Photos from Getty Images.

DESIGNERS can't resist gender interplay: the idea of mixing and matching, comparing and contrasting, merging and marrying feminine and masculine shapes fabrics, etc.

This is the treatment, as it regards the suit's long history, that Taoray Wang designer Wang Tao recommends for her modern, professional woman. In this latest collection, the designer also further seals her reputation for craft and construction.

Meanwhile, she makes those aforesaid observations in expected ways. For instance, demure lace blouses are paired with rather bold-shouldered, assertive jackets.

Seamlessly, WT also takes that notion sideways a bit, creating winning silhouettes. More specifically, a manly burgundy jacket poured into an slightly undulating girlee black maxi skirt with a slit. An olive wrap dress that once upon a time was a trenchcoat is shortened, wrapped, bedazzled at the hem with asymmetry and firmly belted. A boatneck black lace top with panel down the front, simulating a tie included.

On deck today, Day 4: Victoria Beckham, Asia Fashion Collective, Public School, Rosetta Getty,Tome, Elizabeth Kennedy, Chloe Gosselin, Hood By Air, Sies Marjan, Tracy Reese, Diane von Furstenberg, Beaufille, J. Crew, Sandy Liang, Lujin Zhang, Vivienne Hu, Leanne Marshall, Jenny Packham, Prabal Gurung, Gypsy Sport, Altuzarra, Custo Barcelona, Marcel Ostertag, Namilia, Anthony Rubio, Madeline Stuart, Ana Ono, Temraza, House of Byfield, Saku New York, Willfredo Gerardo, MonnaLisa, Wanda Beauchamp, Lulu Et Gigi, Emma Viedma, Rene & Immanuel Clothing, Vasilije Kovacev

Follow us on YouTube at WRIGHT WREPORT, Twitter at @WrightWreport and on Instagram at @thewrightwreport for additional coverage of New York Fashion Week.

Visit the following websites to learn more about NYFW, including show information, installations, videos and livestreaming:

New York Fashion Week: The Shows
http://www.fashionweek.com/

Style Fashion Week
http://www.style360fashionweek.com/newyork

Art Hearts Fashion
http://www.artheartsfashion.com/

CAAFD
http://www.caafd.org/

From NYFW SPRING 2017 Day 7: Seen From the Proper Perspective, Georgine Is Rather Special ... At Adrienne Landau, Be Prepared to Be Colorfully Empowered ... Xuly Bet Designer Lamine Badian Kouyate Owns the Runway Twice Over

BY VW

Some of the players from Day 7: Xuly Bet, Calvin Luo, Naeem Khan, Bibhu Mohapatra, Georgine, Anna Sui, Marchesa, Art Hearts Fashion, RISD Apparel, Runa Ray, Michael Kors, Delpozo, Kimora Lee Simmons, Kuho, Assembly New York & Raquel Allegra, LaQuan Smith, Addition ELLE Presents Holiday 2016 RTW +Ashley Graham Lingerie Fashion Show, Derek Lam, Adrienne Landau, Flagpole, Theory, Anastasiia Ivanova, Alison Lou, Elizabeth Kennedy

From the Spring 2017 Georgine collection. Photos by VW.

PERSPECTIVE. It is important, no?

Of course, it is. Case in point is the Georgine Spring 2017 collection. Viewed from the second row about 10 feet from the mouth of the runway with a poor sightline in the form of the frontrow, it looks like a competent affair. Not so special, not so ordinary. Competent.

Viewed from the vantage point of the photographer's pit, however, it is a rather splendid body of work. At the Georgine afterparty last night at Fig & Olive (Meatpacking District location), where the joint was jumpin', the show played in a continuous loop. From the vantage point of the photographer's pit.

One can properly appreciate the silver T-shirt dress, baby doll dress with lace at the hem and others in some sort of silk-satin that is reminiscent of a waterfall. Lots of movement but controlled movement. The fabric is either cut or sewn in a way that commands it to keep its form instead of gesticulating. Looks easy, not easy.

The collection is inspired by the style of designer Georgine Ratelband's mother. The contents of her closet and the occasion(s) on which she wore a trenchcoat, sequinned dress, lace dress and so on.

In homage to this occasion dressing, each outfit corresponds to an area or street in New York City where it is suggested it be worn.

The series of elegant plaid, satiny-sequinny gowns, for instance, are for Bond Street, Chinatown and Houston Street.

For an outing in Alphabet City, the black gown with a beautiful spider web pattern done in sequins. Also cleverly replicated on a pinstipe skirt and pinstripe dress.

Watching the show on the screen with the mother of Chris Roshia, GR's design partner, offers yet another perspective. "That dress is very fragile," she says of the black sleeveless gown with a gorgeous silver hour-glass pattern down the front and zipper-length on the back.

That pattern is actually a series of safety pins. They'll keep, mom. Ditto for those on the pink copped top.

She appreciates the fact that the red dress with netting cutout at the waist barely skims the body. It is suspended just so, away from the body, a small gravity-defying feat. Mother's favorite outfit: the lace turtleneck, sleeveless fire-engine red dress. It's a showstopper.

Many of the outfits are anchored by fishnet socks and Dr. Martens. Chic, indeed the little black lace, sequinned T-shirt dress, the short sleeve trenchcoat/print dress ensemble, the silver skirt and aforesaid pink cropped top and so on.

"I think it's the best collection we've done," CR says later when the two of us Monday-morning quarterback the show.

ADRIENNE LANDAU

"Through this collection, we wanted to present a fun, bright, and colorful future. These clothes were meant for anyone and meant to empower everyone," Adrienne Landau says in the run of show (show program) about her Spring 2017 collection, a meditation on "diversity" and "equality."

Continues AL: "Unity through diversity is the key message for this season."

One would be hardpressed not to feel empowered in any of this body armor. Close your eyes and point. Good choice, the marabou feather coat in mint, multi-colored applique tulle mini dress and applique tulle flared pant.

Fur. Feathers. Sequins. Lemon-yellow, orange-orange. Metaphors for identity and equality: black, white, pink and blue ... Formidable.

XULY BET

SPORTSWEAR, after-5, evening wear, headwraps, sunglasses and sandals in bodacious African prints. Obnoxious, I-dare-you-to-pair-me-this-way print combinations ...

Xuly Bet designer Lamine Badian Kouyaté turns the runway on its ear. Fun. Festive. Fantastic.

On deck today, Last Day: CFDA Incubator, Marc Jacobs, Kuho, Tim Coppens and Under Armour Present UAS Collection 01, Kristin Cavallari Emerald DUV Jewelry + Chinese Laundry Fashion Presentation, Alex Vinash, Tahor Group #TLVRunwayNYC

Follow us on YouTube at WRIGHT WREPORT, Twitter at @WrightWreport and on Instagram at @thewrightwreport for additional coverage of New York Fashion Week. Visit the following websites to learn more about NYFW, including show information, installations, videos and livestreaming:

New York Fashion Week: The Shows
http://www.fashionweek.com/

Style 360
http://www.style360nyfw.com/

Style Fashion Week
http://www.style360fashionweek.com/newyork

Art Hearts Fashion
http://www.artheartsfashion.com/

FTL Moda
http://www.ftlshows.com

Fashion Gallery
http://www.fgnyfw.com