Nobody does Cynthia Rowley like Cynthia Rowley

NEW YORK (AP) — Cynthia Rowley was true to, well, Cynthia Rowley with fun and funky dresses and two-piece sets featuring thick embroidery in swirly patterns of leaves and geometrics.

A full, long skirt in rose was paired with the embroidery in yellow, one of the standouts Saturday at a New York Fashion Week presentation she turned into a Mexican fiesta in a cavernous hotel space that was once part of a seminary.

A shortsleeve dress in white with thin horizontal stripes had fans of blue embroidery at the chest and floppy, poppy red flower applique at the shoulders.

"Hopefully I'm not taking my customer too far because I think you can get caught up in new, new, new, new, new and you go off the mark," Rowley said as her guests filled the downtown space. "For me, this season, I just wanted to be true to myself and my brand. It's sporty, it's pretty, it's a little sexy, a little bit colorful, but also experimenting with a lot of new techniques."

One of those new techniques for spring was a two-piece, long skirt set with a flared, V-neck top. The skirt was done with horizontal stripes of denim on mesh. And she used the new embroidery on luxury fabrics bonded into two layers of luxe fabric, including silk and satin, to firm up the fabric for skirt sets and dresses.

A black knit sweater had large petals in coral and pink, outlined in white and paired with quilted short shorts. The sporty factor played out in white stretch leggings with a black geometric pattern.

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