DKNY

NEW YORK, September 9, 2007
By Meenal Mistry
Donna Karan has perfected her presentation format for DKNY. It was, again, a casual, standing-room-only affair with the show repeating a few times on a loop so viewers could meander in and out. The wide-open doorway of the Stephan Weiss Studio let the crowd filter onto the corner of Charles and Greenwich streets, essentially connecting runway to sidewalk. "It's about the modernity of New York—all the new buildings and the freshness of the city," Karan said with characteristic enthusiasm.

With floppy Jodie Foster-in-Taxi Driver hats and Feist's cover of the Bee Gees' Inside and Out as the soundtrack, the show was right in step with the 1970's resurgence that was in early infancy last season and is now learning to walk. Much was long and lean: color-block jersey gowns with a hint of Halston about them, skinny shirts tucked into wide-legged pants or dark jeans, and a retake of the Bianca Jagger white three-piece suit. Everything was quite polished, from boxy coats to sash-belted silk dresses.

As a secondary line, DKNY, almost by definition, needs to project a young, upbeat energy, and the proceedings—with the exception of a few overly splashy prints that dragged back the pace—had plenty of bounce. The cherry on top of this seventies sundae was, naturally, the jumpsuit. It's a trend Karan hopes will have legs. "My life is in a jumpsuit," she said. "So I'm glad it's back. To me, it's an icon."