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My Favorite Collections from New York Fashion Week

Writer's picture: Lori BurtLori Burt

As a long time fashion connoisseur, I of course LOVE all of the fashion weeks, but especially New York Fashion week in the Fall. It reminds me of my early exploration of high fashion and watching the first, second, and third seasons of Project Runway (Tim Gunn, I love you!) Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can even find sketches done from the designers at the beginning of their journey to create the collection you're seeing which is awesome to see all the different ways each designer represents their ideas on the page. This year I decided I would pick my top 5 collections and sketch some of my favorite looks from them. So here goes!


The first collection is Michael Kors. He has long been one of my favorite designers because of his classic silhouettes and beautiful tailoring. He uses the most beautiful and luxurious fabrics yet all his looks seem so approachable and wearable for most women. I'm a girl who dresses as minimalist as possible so his aesthetic really appeals to me. He doesn't use too many colors or fabrics or patterns - and everything ties together with a neutral color. In this collection, I LOVE his pop of chartreuse and his beautiful and simplistic florals. The long skirts paired with the tube tops make the look seem more modest and demure. I also love how he has used some traditionally colder-weather materials in his spring collection like a lovely tweed suit and some thicker short-sleeved sweaters. The navy floral lace strapless dress was probably my favorite of the collection.


The next collection that I wanted to highlight was by Sergio Hudson. Sergio Hudson's show was pastel perfection! He talked about how he was inspired by the movie "Valley of the Dolls" to create this collection. He really took the color palette from the movie and ran with it. I LOVE a monochrome look and these beautiful suits and gorgeous, yet simple dresses captured my heart! There was one look that was a pastel tie-dye, long sleeve, collard silk shirt with a mini skirt that was made of metallic fringe that had me absolutely mesmerized! The looks with the blazers paired with hot pants are especially elegant to me, even in a sweet pastel pink color. I felt like he chose to show just the right amount of skin to convey maturity and class while also looking sexy. The look with the checkered pastel crop top with the long flowing mermaid skirt shows a little belly without looking too young. He also added some retro details like peter pan collars and sweet capped sleeves. He called this collection "minimal but grand," I I totally concur.





LoveShackFancy has to be on the list! With all the pinks, lace, and girly silhouette's, you get the feeling that girls just wanna have fun! I think Rebecca Hessel Cohen is truly a down-to-the-core girly girl. All of her collections have been sweet and lovely but also so truly feminine and full of fantasy. Cohen designed this collection after visiting Christian Dior's atelier and apartment in Paris and it definitely says Paris! With all the beautiful lace details and silk ribbon bows there is something delicate in each peice. Look number 35 is a lovely pale pink strapless dress with eyelet fabric over top of tulle and a pink satin bow around the waist. This look sends me back to Pretty in Pink with Molly Ringwald - in the best way! The collection, to me, has hints of 80's and 90's fabric and silhouette choices brought into this decade and made to look ultra feminine. Also peppered through out is pearl necklaces, diamond bow necklaces, and thin silk scarves (tied in a bow) to highlight and reinforce all the the delicate details of the clothing.




The next collection I loved was the collection by Rachel Comey. Rachel Comey's spring collection was just cool. Her color palette started out as bold and eye catching with dark blues and pops of yellow and deep mustard to then transition into a neutral pastel palette to end with. The wide-leg, flowy pants and the bold patterned material she used was really intriguing and made each look strong and fun! She also had some really interesting silhouettes in her tops and jackets that used more structured material and made the garment look strong and no-nonsense. I loved the pastel look with the blush colored jacket and light green fringed skirt. Pink and green is one of my favorite color pairings and she did it with such expertise! I really loved some of the knits that she used because they definitely looked like some of the oversized sweaters I used to rock in the 90s! Rachel Comey always makes clothing that can be worn every day, but that has a twist of uniqueness that makes it special.




Last, but certainly not least is Coach. I LOVE Coach and have for years and years. I feel like recently they have started to really move into a more alternative look and while it is not the Coach I grew up with, its pretty cool to see them change. Stuart Vevers brought in materials everyone wears all the time, denim, leather, khakis, and cotton t-shirting to bring his collection to life. The details in his collection are really what caught my eye, especially the bags! The giant teddy bear bag was my favorite piece and the way they styled the sneakers for each look was also super cool - there's just no other way to describe it! All the looks that went down the runway were very New York and very much for everyone. From the "I love NY" t-shirts to the graffitied bags and yellow taxi cab sneaker charms, each look was very street style. The leather pieces were beautiful and had a very lived-in look which is a signature for Coach. The silk dresses paired with sneakers and either a leather jacket or leather hat, really had my heart. I loved, again, the lovely pastel colors and youthful silhouettes of the dresses and to see them "dressed down" with sneakers and ball caps was really fun and really brought something relatable to the show. He also used recycled and up-cycled materials like the denim and leather in his collection, emphasizing a future in sustainability and mindfulness.


I hope you've enjoyed these few collections and my illustrated interpretations of them. This is one of the ways I practice my figures and stay moving forward, sketching all the new collections from my favorite designers. Sketching various fabrics and observing how they drape on the body offers valuable insights. Also getting a chance to use different art supplies and experimenting with style is something easy to do when you are exploring different fashion collections.

For each illustration I sketched each figure first in pencil (Derwent 2h) and then outlined my figure with a Micron 08 and 01. I then used Copic and Prismacolor markers to color each figure. By the end of all of the fashion weeks (NY, London, Milan, Paris) my sketchbook is full and my markers are dry, haha!

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All images © Lori Burt, 2023

All images on this website are property of Lori Burt and may not be used in any other form without the written permission of Lori Burt Illustration

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