NEW YORK, September 14, 2006 – Mark Badgley and James Mischka are clearly trying to move in a new direction and received a standing ovation today for a collection that they described as being "a little out of the box for us." The applause was testament to this well-liked duo's popularity, but it was also reward for a show in which they had, for the most part, resisted their tendency to gild the lily. In fact, they claimed to have been inspired by the Shakers, the result of a recent trip to Kentucky. Gone was fall's garish palette; in were white, cream, ochre, bronze, and black. The consistency of the color scheme gave coherence to a collection that focused a bit too heavily on silhouettes that were designed to "hang from the rib cage and be soft and flowing from behind." The designers described their embroidered-net halter gown with an asymmetric hem as "monastic," but truthfully, this negligée-like number wouldn't pass with Mother Superior. Badgley Mischka, after all, will never be minimalists, but by paring down their red carpet-ready dresses, they made them more ready for the paparazzo flash than ever.

– Laird Borrelli