Revelations. Manual De La Cruz presented his profoundly named Fall 2010 collection at The Altman Building during February’s Fashion Week to an eager crowd of both friends and fanfare. The end may not be near for this new designer judging by this offering, his most ambitious  yet. The “rocker priest” is born! Well, someone has to save all those nuns gone astray and sexy Saturday night souls. The Guatemalan designer used imported fabrics native to his homeland to “celebrate the human body,” as he puts it, translating visions inspired by Mayan art. Gorgeous wools, silks, and leather gave tribal patterns and classic cocktail shapes what I will call “nuevo vivo.” I loved the femininity of the well-formed dessert sand blazer with black trim and burgundy pant. While there were jackets made in the same vain for men, nothing about this collection was unisex. Latinistas dominating the catwalk in contributions by Danny Escobar – shoes, jewelry, and headpieces that added quite a presence to every look. See below for a few of my favorite new faces hamming it up backstage before the show.

Backstage shots

The urbanite goes urbane with Yeohlee‘s latest Fall 2010 offering. Showing just doors down from Mercedes Benz Fashion Week tents, the very celebrated designer let cylinders and Kazimir Malevich’s “Black Circle” inspire this seasons collection as compelling geometric influences rendered wool coats and pants were softened by gauge knits yarns and quirky bursts of dots and plaid. Swing coats, bag dresses, and hand knit ponchos rounded out the collection. Often deemed “too cerebral” for anyone other than architects and curators (the designer had been quoted as saying “I imagine these clothes being worn in a post apocalyptic space station by cadets making music with a saw”), Yeohlee has certainly hit notes with her watercolor painted silk shirt dress and short hemmed looks for night. Out of this world.

Photo: imaxtree

Everyone is a Geisha as far as Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra are concerned. Stirred by a recent trip to Japan, the suspender clad Brooklyn Boys draped their way into a Fall 2010 collection that defies all rules of convention. Hoping to translate that excited feeling of  “a young girl taking her first journey embarking on her life,” Tagliapietra says, a sense of readiness and adventure was laced through this truly autumn palette. Hints of “kimono” touched each garment – so crisp, so precise, but in no way fussy or complicated. Featuring very close silhouettes, particular attention to the waistline, and not a single hemline beyond the shin, the woman who rocks these frocks is a woman who knows what it means to be dressed. Note the lack of a suit option? How fresh! Craftsmanship and detail were in perfect harmony, staggeringly so. It was obvious what a meticulous eye and hand required to pull off such “magicianary”. What else is to be expected from from two self-proclaimed ‘math nerds?’ It’s worth mentioning that the translation of the Japanese word ‘gei’ is art and ‘sha’ is person. I’ll say. Milk Studios was the perfect place to host such a display with its own brand of simplicity and candor.

This show gets my medal for ‘Most Wearable Off the Runway’. I literally had to restrain myself from standing up out of my seat and plucking these goodies off the backs of Alexander Berardi‘s Fall 2010 porcelain dolls. A stunning black pleated jacket opened the scene at one of my favorite spaces in New York City, the Altman Building on 18th Street. Sex appeal and vibrance were clearly keynotes in this collection. Even the most structured of blazers looked to be slipped on with the slightest of ease while a catchingly memorable band of black and red piped shirt dresses sought quite command. One could hardly contain themselves when model Sosheba hit her stride in a little red ribbon number. Violet, velvet, and tulle were delightful VIP’s as was the classic 1940′s tone speckled throughout.

You should want your boyfriend to be BESPOKEN. He’ll be the rock and roll runaway of the old Park Avenue set – a mannered bad boy with enough charm to keep anyone’s pants right where he wants them. Potently lazy spurts of tartan and plaid against kisses of classic texture like herringbone and tweed in modern muted tones – bothers James, Sam, and Liam Fayed have it down. The gallery style viewing of the next season’s line was held at Hosfelt Gallery on the first day of New York Fashion Week. Sam, BeSpoken’s creative director, left us these morsels on offering and inspiration: ”Basically, for Fall-Winter ’10, we really tried to dress down the BeSpoken line, make it a lot more accessible. [We're] offering a lot of crop blazers, unstructured jackets…textured fabrics. The color palette is olives, grays, desserts, browns; more muted tones. Kind of that hung over feel – making it more gritty. We had said we’re going to do the whole Savile Row/rock and roll thing. I think that really speaks to the collection. The inspiration, for me, was kind of like a ‘Keith Richards go to a dinner party/Lee Mavers in Milan’ – wearing a suit. [Then] we used a harris tweed – an English fabric from up north with moleskin. So we definitely offer the higher end tailoring product as well as the more dressed down on the front.” Run Tweet That.™

Now we know where the wild things are – in Cynthia Rowley‘s wildly delicious Fall 2010 line. Held at New York City’s fabled Gotham Hall just blocks downwind from the Bryant Park tents, a breathtaking and lusciously intimate display transported us into a dream jungle where anything could happen – and did. This season was, indeed, a grand step outside of the comfort zone that is Ms. Rowley’s usual conservative approach. However, whimsy and character, trademarks for the designer, were in no short order. Inspired by “monsters,” feathers, fur, flowers and fringe ravaged every skirt, dress, blouse, and jacket that hit the runway as tie-dyed, crimped haired models stepped taut to the live fusion beats of Preacher and the Knife and a rumbling band playing way up in the raptures. What’s more is that through a partnership with the Gagosian Shop, Cynthia Rowley offered limited edition duplicates of these latest looks! Photos were taken of each garment, front to back. The images were then printed onto fabric, cut out into the shapes of the original garment, and copies were available the night of the show. Pretty wild, huh? Run Tweet That.™

*Appropriated Cynthia Rowley Fall 2010 Runway Designs are available now through mid-March at Gagosian Shop – 988 Madison Avenue at 77th Street. Gagosian.com/shop

Backstage at Cynthia Rowley

Photo: Imaxtree