New York Fashion Week – 1950s meets 2007 at Donna Karen

Donna Karen’s Spring Summer collection brought back memories of breezy 1950’s America with the ultimate American dress, the shirtwaister. Perfect for hotter months or climes, these simple and stylish dresses evoke hot Havana nights and dancing 1950s diners. If its on Donna Karen’s catwalk then it will be on the chicest New Yorkers come spring summer next year. If you are the right body shape, it doesn’t matter what age you are, you will be able to pull this look off.

Hillary Alexander of the Telegraph puts it perfectly “if you’re going to have longer length’s, it’s very important that you emphasise the waist” and Donna Karen does this with ease with her wide belts. Bring the look together with an urban trilby and you can’t go wrong. Chic and stylish and who doesn’t want to look like a New Yorker?

If you can’t handle a full shirtwaister then Donna Karen has separates that come together and pop with colour as this red number does on one of our favourite models Coco Rocha.

In fact it seems that all of Donna’s frocks have a wide mid section, so even without a wide belt these dresses can be worn with ease. Another factor that makes the shirtdress so appealing is their wearability, this is New York and therefore you don’t have to be a model to feel comfortable in these clothes.

Another little note that the designer has throughout the collection, are the subtle colours, occasionally mixed with bright bursting colours as seen with the red blouse on Coco Rocha. Although the accessories shown with the clothes have a similar colour palette, these dresses will work just as well with bright and hot colours.

The look below shows just how nicely short shorts look with a mid length trench, buttoned up it will look like your only wearing a trench, whilst open will make you look a little more sophisticated. Note of warning, if you don’t have long legs, or at the very least high heels, DO NOT WEAR SHORT SKIRTS OR SHORTS.

Another trend we’ve been seeing this season is veiling and the use of sheer (i.e. semi-transparent fabric). Jil Sander’s show looked great on the catwalk but the idea of wearing any of it in real life seemed unimaginable. Leave it to Donna Karen to make the sheer fabrics wearable as seen on this shirtdress. Clearly the whole thing is not using sheer fabric, but there is enough to keep the dress both modern and alluring.

Lily Donaldson certainly was given many great looks and this was an example of an easy, breezy dress that was not a shirtdress yet still fit in with the feel of the collection. It must be the whole, just bellow the knee length that keeps the dresses looking like they’re from the 50’s whilst the cut keeps them up to date and modern.

Donna Karen has always had a knack at making daywear dresses that work equally well during the evening, this dress keeps with the 50’s theme but the subdued colours and print help to keep it as modern as the dress above. This is a key idea in the collection, if you’re evoking the past, make sure you bring it back up to date and never take things to literally “sportswear done with a modern twist” as the designer put it.

And finishing on eveningwear, Donna Karen’s full length yet light as a feather (and according to Raquel Zimmerman, “soft and silky”) and you don’t need to be wearing it to see that is true. The gowns really did flow down the catwalk (just wait until the Lanvin report is posted!).

Overall this collection was simple and chic and not to be taken lightly. If you want to look stylish and comfortably cool buy yourself a shirtwaister for the coming spring/summer. Next up, Feigned Perfection will be feeding you with our delicious report on the wearable costumes from Zac Posen and Vera Wang.