New York Fashion Week Day 4: Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY and more

Metro’s style director, Kenya Hunt, and style editor, Tina Chadha, are reporting from the ground at New York Fashion Week. Read their daily dispatches for the latest on what’s coming down the runway and lots more.

Sunday
11:45 a.m. “But I thought the shows take place at Lincoln Center?” my cab driver asks me, as we whiz downtown to my first show of the day. Honestly, I don’t know why the fashion industry even bothers calling Lincoln Center its Fashion Week headquarters when the majority of the shows happen off-site. Most New Yorkers imagine Lincoln Center as the hub of it all. But I’ve been in New York for three days and have yet to go to a single show at Lincoln Center. That’s because the bulk of Fashion Week really takes place downtown. Last night, I found myself hustling down to the Financial District to see Alexander Wang, which was followed immediately afterward by Alexandre Herchcovitch at the official headquarters. The distance and time constraints make for a hassle of a commute, especially in the snow. This morning, Derek Lam is happening — you guessed it –off-site in Chelsea, the neighborhood that should really be called Ground Zero for the shows (or at least, that’s where I’ve spent most of my collection-seeing time so far).  -Kenya Hunt

A model walks the runway at the Derek Lam Autumn Winter 2013 fashion show.
Credit: Getty Images

12:10 p.m. Derek Lam’s show is a tight collection of workwear separates that strike the perfect balance between professional and edgy. Polished pieces such as a shift dress with overlapping zigzag panels and a two-tone tunic and trouser pairing looked as if they were designed for the career editors sitting in the audience. But there were also looks for the girls who would never be caught dead in an office conference room, namely, little textured mini-dresses that were made for door-to-door service. -KH

Cara Delevingne
Credit: Getty Images

12:45 p.m. Outside Derek Lam, the street style frenzy is even more high energy than usual. I hear a commotion and assume that the photographers are chasing Beyonce or some other equally famous and popular celeb. Instead, the photogs were hunting down the model of the moment Cara Delevingne, who in her relatively new career has walked in too many shows to count. She’s running out of the show venue and into an SUV, which drives the photographers mad, prompting some of the industry’s most popular photobloggers to start yelling like true paparazzi. Some run into ongoing traffic to get the shot. This can’t end well. And with that, I head to my next stop, DKNY, which is happening in (yup) Chelsea. Take it away, Tina. -KH

Credit: Getty Images

1 p.m. Cara Delevingne opens the DKNY show — she really is everywhere. I consider listing her as one of the items trending on the runway. But it also makes total sense since the model stars in the campaign for the brand’s new capsule collection with Opening Ceremony, which is a greatest hits compilation of sorts. Once the show gets rolling it’s hard to keep up with the trends flying down. Like busy New Yorkers who aim to do it all, this collection covers a lot: color-blocked work separates, neoprene dresses that hug the body and elongated sweater dresses that fall below the knee. The color palette is also busy, ranging from subtle neutrals to bold tomato reds, with a little playful hot pink mixed in. The items that stand out the most, though, are the coats and jackets, including quilted bombers, slick anoraks and cropped parkas. Those would stop traffic. – Tina Chadha

Credit: Getty Images

2 p.m.
There’s been so much black on the runway these past three days that I’m really looking forward to Tracy Reese’s signature colorful looks. It takes forever to get to my seat because photographers are having a field day taking pictures. I look around to see what young starlet is causing this roadblock — turns out it’s Angela Bassett! I add to the rubber-necking. And Reese doesn’t disappoint: Models wear feminine full skirts, relaxed trousers and leggy shifts in riotous bright animal prints and floral patterns.
Citing “sexy, strong and eccentric New York City girls” as her inspiration, Reese accessorized her models in quirky ’60s cat-eye shades, chic, furry hats and in one case, with a cat on a leash! Turns out it’s a partnership with Purina One to educate on how cats can be leash-trained. You really can’t get more eccentric than that. TC

 3:30 p.m.
My cameraman is shooting B-roll outside of Diane von Furstenberg for a new video series that we’re doing (more about that soon.) I need him to capture that other catwalk presentation that takes place outside of the shows, most commonly known as street style. I’m always amazed by the number of people who have shown up, dressed like their lives depended on it, with no invitation in hand and no plans to actually walk inside. And everyone keeps doing the same pose, with the legs ajar, hip cocked to the side and feet turned inward. -KH

A model walks the runway at the Tommy Hilfiger Fall 2013 Women’s Collection fashion show.
Credit: Getty Images

7:45 p.m I can’t help wishing Team Tommy Hilfiger would replace the pre-show music with a broadcast of the Grammys. Instead of watching Beyonce live on television, my editor friends and I follow it on Twitter as we kill time. Stephanie Seymour’s It kids, Peter and Harry Brant, sit down across from me. And Russell Simmons rushes in to take his seat beside them. There are also a lot of “Real Housewives” lookalikes in the room. People watching aside, if the Prince of Wales check on the hardbound invitation and Ivy League-like crests painted on the runway backdrop are any indication, this collection is going to take us all back to school. -KH

8:15 p.m. Savile Row is trending this week. Rag & Bone referenced Britain’s iconic school of tailoring in their collection. Now, Tommy’s girls are storming the runway in mannish coats that merge classic English prints such as houndstooth, pin stripes and the aforementioned check, with all-American flag colors. The marriage between American preppy sportswear and British tailoring makes perfect sense, like that pair of platonic friends who should have hooked up ages ago. His trademark Ivy League staples (the blazer, double-breasted coat and parka, for instance) take on a new meaning when placed within the older context of England’s Oxbridge schools, London’s Mod scene and Wales’s hunting grounds. It’s one of Tommy’s best collections in recent memory, right down to his clever knee-high penny loafer boots. Someone should set this man up on a blind date with Paul Smith stat. -KH