Zac Posen pays tribute to old-world glamour

Jewish designer popular with Hollywood starlets unveils collection of beautifully draped, spectacular yet unadorned gowns

The Zac Posen Fall 2014 collection is modeled during Fashion Week in New York, Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
The Zac Posen Fall 2014 collection is modeled during Fashion Week in New York, Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

NEW YORK (AP) — Zac Posen says he was more disciplined as he created his latest collection: He limited his choice of fabrics, and he limited his color palette, too.

But he certainly didn’t limit the glamour quotient. You could practically hear the swooning when he sent out his beautifully draped, spectacular yet unadorned gowns to close out his runway show Monday.

Posen doesn’t need sequins or crystals to enhance a dress. He can do a whole lot with something like pleats, which were perfect in a tangerine taffeta strapless ball gown, for example. A sea-foam silk strapless “architectural” gown evoked nothing less than a sense of being at Versailles. Without the jewels.

“This was all about elegance,” Posen said in a post-show interview. “It was about line and form. I had to be disciplined. It was a tight edit.”

The Zac Posen Fall 2014 collection is modeled during Fashion Week in New York, Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
The Zac Posen Fall 2014 collection is modeled during Fashion Week in New York, Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

The show began with more practical styles for daytime: A tweed suit in crimson, and a black wool coat that looked tightly tailored in front, but billowed out in back. The daytime look segued into cocktail hour, with a chic off-the-shoulder dress in ruby, and a strapless cocktail dress in a muted color Posen calls anthracite.

And then came evening styles: an opera coat in jet-black wool, for example. And then those gowns, with their grand silhouettes.

It was a nice reminder that when a dress is as expertly cut as some of these, you really don’t need anything more.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

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