NYC Fashion Week: Fall/Winter 2011: Donna Karan

Donna Karan named her Fall collection Pearls of Wisdom and recruited Erickson Beamon to design the pearl necklaces that accompanied all the looks and informed the show's all-neutral palette. Karan herself is more of an African bead kind of woman, and for many years she relied on the bold, sculptural jewelry of Robert Lee Morris for her runway. This show was a somewhat curious departure from all that. In addition to the jewelry, the models wore Grace Kelly topknots; some sported elbow-length gloves finished in deep swatches of fur, and others carried ladylike top-handle frame bags. As for the clothes, with the exception of two pairs of high-waisted draped jersey pants, she showed dresses, skirtsuits, and coats, along with a few filmy blouses with draped necklines that sometimes doubled as head scarves. Every look, without exception, had a nipped waist. The nipped waist to me is the best feature for EVERY body type, it accents whats there and makes whats not there an illusion of beauty. The evening gowns were simply luxurious...