Narciso Rodriguez: True to Form

If you are looking for teacup skirts, belted waists, over-exaggerated volume and any other trendy form that fashion is currently taking, then don’t look to Narciso Rodriguez.

Staying true to his minimalist roots, on Tuesday, September 12th Rodriguez deciphered his own modernity for Spring 2007 not by climbing on the bandwagon, but by simply tweaking his always progressive-looking style into silhouettes that work today and will still work tomorrow.

Using high tech-sounding fabrics like a mix of wool/hemp and carbon to cut a slim black suit with killer, ultra-lean trousers, by slinging a fiberglass belt soft around the waist of a simple white silk shirt dress and by arranging a organized mosaic of black, red, grey plastic pieces on a short dress, Rodriguez’s took a step into the future without making his clothes look like sci-fi costumes – even when he put a solid, shiny red breastplate over a black silk gown. The effect was elegantly new, but not bizarrely out of the ordinary.

Rodriguez showed 49 looks, including 10 men’s looks that we will refrain from getting into (think sleeveless suits with shorts and tailored tulle tank tops), but no one seemed bored or even able to take their eyes off the clothes long enough to stare at the handsome ensemble of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, who swept in from backstage seconds before the show began.

The real star of the evening was a color blocked dress worn by Jessica Stam that had a black patent leather smock attached to a raspberry silk skirt that fell from the high waist, all of which was held up by two broad, white nylon straps.

Rodriguez’s clean lines and his strategically placed slits and nicks offer a pure answer to any of the overly embellished, layered looks and ‘80s pretense that might be left over from last season.

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