Each season designers wax on about their inspirations, but there is nothing stronger than some feedback from the customer to help shape a collection.
Mark Badgley and James Mischka know this well, fresh off a 12-city trunk show with Neiman Marcus, and with two more to go, the busy designers are armed with real-life data about what their girl wants.
“She wants versatile pieces, day to night,” Badgley explained at a private appointment at their showroom.
“People are really being more practical in their purchases,” Mischka added.
The duo explained that their pre-fall collection is meant to be “a fall look, but with fabric weights that are seasonless.“
This autumnal sensibility came through in their color story, full of rich saturated jewel tones, prints and topped off with their well-known embellishments and treatments.
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The two said prints have been doing really well for them. One strong example Mischka deemed their “watercolor garden print.” A brightly colored take on a floral print, it was used throughout the collection, for example on a great cocktail dress with a large bow over the bodice or a suit done in a forgiving Neoprene, a fabric the designers used in several garments.
In the spirit of day-to-night, they showed a host of easy shirt and sheath dresses, a style their customer will gravitate to.
They still produce a lot of evening, like a colorful column gowns with layered fabric manipulations at the shoulder or a green sequined tuxedo.
There was a strong mix of cocktail pieces that the two jokingly called “bitchy cocktail dresses.” They signaled a hint of Eighties power dress with their squared-off shoulders with slightly puffed sleeves.