Erin Fetherston

NEW YORK, September 5, 2007
By Meenal Mistry
Backstage before her show, Erin Fetherston tossed around such fashion-isms as "eccentric glamour" and "kooky sophistication" before remarking, "I think the ultimate luxury in fashion is to be yourself, to celebrate your personality." Combine those utterances with the fact that the collection was named Flights of Fancy, and it seemed like we were in for a typically whimsical outing from the designer. It was a surprise, then, to witness an elegant, grown-up parade of plain silks in grays and pales. Fetherston didn't neglect the sweetly girlish sensibility that has made her clothes must-haves among a fashion-obsessed clique of starlets such as Kirsten Dunst and Zooey Deschanel. But by sending out looks like a nipped-waist blouse paired with slim, dove-gray-hued pants, she should attract new fans. Her kookiness revealed itself in stealth form, most engagingly in two charming line-drawing prints of birds and shells, cut into slim shifts and trenches. Fetherston accessorized her polished outfits with cat-eye glasses, a pearly conch handbag, and enough headgear—from feathered headbands to turbans—to make Arden Wohl green with envy, but none of it was a distraction.