Altuzarra shows his _ and his muse's _ tough side
NEW YORK (AP) — Joseph Altuzarra stripped it all down for the crowd gathered in a west Chelsea basement for his New York Fashion Week runway show.
There weren't a lot of bells and whistles, and Altuzarra said that instead of making a "big fantastical narrative," he wanted the clothes to speak for themselves. "I wanted to do something closer to the street," he said in an interview.
But his street isn't necessarily Main Street: His urban, confident, fashion-forward customer wears graphic black-and-white leather — layers it on, in fact — and then there's the fox or mink fur on top. She's not shy about drawing attention in fur mittens, shiny grommet embellishment and strategically placed zippers. She wears her high-waisted trousers with a low-slung belt.
Optic white pants for a fall-winter collection shown on Saturday, a day with huge slush puddles outside? He's not worried about it, and neither would his fans.
Even something like a khaki cotton sleeveless trench worn with a khaki four-button tailored skirt would turn heads.
"My woman has sensuality, but also rigor and a certain austerity," he said.
The silhouette he offered her is strong and slim, sometimes with a little bump at the hip, which might leave anyone but the models and the front-row editors a little intimidated.
He described the shape: "The design and construction emphasize the nip of the waist and exaggerate the hip, while shrunken proportions mixed with a bolder shoulder volume sharpen the classic silhouette."
Altuzarra sees his muse "as an amalgamation of a lot of women I've worked with."
"These women all have lives and jobs," he added, "and they want to look good without ever giving up their lives and jobs."
