Like a lot of designers at New York Fashion Week, Milly co-founder and creative director Michelle Smith was feeling fractured over the results of the presidential election. So she decided to incorporate those sentiments into her fall collection in a positive way.
"Feeling fractured doesn't signify weakness," she wrote in her program notes. "There is strength in acknowledging the fractures, feeling them, not being afraid of them, addressing them. That is where the mending can begin."
Her off-kilter collection features such items as a ripped sequined cocktail dress worn with a torn sweater, oversized hoodie coats with extra long sleeves, unfinished knit tops, overcoats with frayed lining, shirts torn at the shoulder, and a shirtdress worn backwards and tied to look almost like a straight jacket.
One suspects that some of the looks were made only for the runway to showcase the collection to maximum effect. And indeed, as presented, along with such music as "Fight The Power," the show had an edgy, exhilarating attitude that fits the brand's cool young clients.
But peel away some of the more fractured looks and it's easy to find plenty of attention-getting items that can easily be worn for nighttime partygoing. Among them: Metallic slipdresses worn with cropped long-sleeve sweaters, a black boyfriend blazer and trousers, a laced-back midi apron dress made of stretch satin, and an ankle-length cocktail dress with a pink and gold lame satin bustier and skirt of woven tinsel that sways with the model's movement.
And the last looks in the collections feature several see-through gowns made of chiffon or lamé silk metallized organza, leading one wonder if perhaps it's all an illusion.
Milly gold panne velvet bias fractured slip dress, grey Merino wool double knit crop sweater.
