NEW YORK — With the exception of the new Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio movie, Wall Street is not usually thought of as a sensual place. But Donna Karan found America's financial center to be the perfect location to showcase her steamy 30th anniversary collection.
Celebrity fans, including Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness, Katie Holmes and Sting's better half, Trudie Styler, flocked to a building once owned by J.P. Morgan, across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, to view a collection that incorporated Karan's celebrated seven easy pieces in a sexed-up way.
There's no doubt that the body is the focus of Karan's fall collection, because so much of it is exposed.
The building's inside, stripped of everything but concrete floors and steel beams, took on the air of a chilly after-hours club, with dark corners, diffused lighting and no heat, so most attendees kept their coats on throughout the runway show. On the walls overlooking the maze-like catwalk, 360-degree images of a larger-than-life woman draped in Donna Karan designs swirled in motion.
Karan commissioned artist Steven Sebring to create the film after viewing his multimedia presentation, Revolution, at the New York City Armory last year and used it as the basis of her collection. "It's all about the body," she told the Associated Press. "It's all about the movement of the body and the expression of the woman and how she is so core in her strength."
There's no doubt that the body is the focus of Karan's fall collection, because so much of it is exposed. The opening looks seemed like a tribute to the S&M-themed 1978 movie, The Night Porter, with long-legged models in black jackets belted at the waist with mid-thigh boots and no pants. The body-conscious theme continues throughout the collection in see-through chiffon dresses, bodysuits in illusion tulle and swirling evening gowns with plunging necklines and high slits.
While there are virtually no slacks in the collection, there are a lot of terrific tailored jackets, winter coats that will last for years, and the perfect white blouse that never goes out of style in addition to the more daring looks.
Karan's ability to balance the body-conscious, of-the-moment looks with serviceable pieces that every woman needs in her wardrobe is a big reason why she has been so successful in the cutthroat fashion world, and why, at age 65, she continues to be a body in motion.
Also in the crowd were Houstonians Sheridan Williams, Dancie Ware and Karen Mayell. Williams and Ware are Donna Karan Ambassadors, highlighted for their charitable work.
Model Karlie Kloss wears a Donna Karan ruby silk chiffon and viscose wool evening gown.
