Carolina Herrera Spring 2023
“Hello, Dolly” is currently making Broadway showgoers feel good, so why not fashion showgoers, too?
Certainly there are few places better to forget your troubles than the storied Plaza Hotel ballroom, where Wes Gordon presented his feel-good, floral-filled collection on Monday morning.
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Some guests dressed for a.m. cocktails, with puffy sleeves sliding off shoulders, trailing bows and trains. It was a quite a contrast with the morning commuters on 58th Street. But as the song goes, “Don’t rain on my parade.”
“There are few things as iconic to New York as The Plaza,” Gordon said during a preview, citing memories not of Eloise or the Black and White Ball, but of “Home Alone 2.”
Glamour was the point, though, now as in 1992, when Mrs. Herrera herself showed for the last time at the Plaza, then still owned by a brash real estate honcho named Donald Trump. The late Ivana Trump was queen of the New York society scene and the Plaza, where she had an office. Imagine the front-row chatter.
On his runway, Gordon wanted to create the feel of a “Secret Garden,” one of his favorite childhood books, he said. He chose six different pieces of artwork to create “a beautiful clash” of florals on body-conscious cotton voile dresses, blouses and sarong skirts. He leaned into the more casual side of dressing up for the most part, including the lovely blue-stripe shirtdress with dramatic cutout worn by a smiling Karlie Kloss.
“Spring is about pieces you live in beyond a few hours, and pieces you can travel in,” said Gordon.
So there were floral knit sets, and ladylike corseted denim pieces. The hats were a nod to Bunny Mellon in her chic gardening outfits. Corsages bloomed from tailored taffeta suits, and salt n’ pepper tweeds were made over into minidresses and shorts suits.
There was also full-tilt glamour, including a candy embroidery red-and-pink plunge front bustier gown, and a poppy red column with dramatic rosette that has already come down the red carpet, worn by Kate Hudson at the Toronto Film Festival on Saturday. The dress had to be driven from Toronto back to New York. “Because who can trust shipping these days?” said Gordon.
It was refreshing to see an inclusive cast, which has been New York Fashion Week’s great contribution, even if the fit of Precious Lee’s gown could have been better.
Still, the toe-tapping show tunes, regal room and garden frocks made it the kind of atmosphere that was hard to leave. Encore, encore.
Launch Gallery: Carolina Herrera RTW Spring 2023
