New York City Fashion Week Spring 09: Lela Rose

The Lowdown: In the midst of lots of black and hard edges, the Lela Rose Spring 09 runway show came off like a, er, breath of fresh air . . . think feminine, think classic, think chic. But we really wouldn’t have expected anything else. The show echoed much of the asymmetry and ruffle details we’ve seen on other runways, but beyond that—soft, sophisticated, and definitely all-girl. Make that woman. And the colors? Delicious and soothing to the eyes, striking but not bright, in a range of deep blues (which we’re seeing a lot of), soft orange, muted red, pale spring yellow-green, creams and grays, in mostly solids with the occasional subtly-executed print. This is a collection with tons of functionality, from short skirts with simple lines and pockets, to swingy little jackets to easy dresses.

Budget Solutions: As real-life wearers of fashion, we kind of fell in love with this Lela Rose show—the pieces are simple, wearable, and yet special. It’s the details that make them such, the aforementioned ruffles, pocketed skirts, striking little daytime jackets. The jacket shape is something you could probably pick up now (like this Isaac Mizrahi for Target linen blazer, on clearance now), and layer with a basic shell in that sublime yellow-green come spring. We also love that in contrast to many of the chunky, gladiator inspired sandals we’ve seen on the runway, Lela Rose is showing with some super lady-like peep-toe pumps for a little change of pace (take a look at this pair—featuring the bow detail that run’s through much of Lela Rose’s collection—by Caparro at Endless.com, or just wait to see if there’s another Lela Rose collection coming at Payless . . .they’ve been teaming up since 2005.)

image courtesy of Coutorture.com