A New York state of mind suits Albert Kriemler. After being chosen as this year’s Couture Council honoree, which put him in New York during fashion week, the Swiss designer decided to show his Akris collection for the first time in the city, and went full-throttle on a Manhattan-centric lineup full of fresh, colorful, smart clothes.
The show, staged in a raw, vacated floor in midtown’s Lever House, was dedicated to New York artist Carmen Herrera, whom Kriemler was turned onto upon his first visit to the new Whitney Museum last year. He zeroed in on her 1959 painting “Blanco y Verde,” which set the tone for a good portion of the lineup’s green-and-white color scheme and neat, geometric lines.
Working, as always, from Akris’ core of impeccable fabrics and luxury sportswear, Kriemler dug into clean shapes with great movement and intense color — orange, cobalt blue, red, pink, brown, black and white — derived from more of Herrera’s work. A series of white-and-green looks, including an ivory linen shorts suit with a jacket that folded over to reveal a green lining, and a striped, cropped jumpsuit and flowing jacket, delivered youthful polished pep. There were pleated tunics, flared-leg jumpsuits, T-shirt dresses, nipped-waist St. Gallen lace dresses and paneled gowns, everything clean cut but with room to breathe. Some of the graphic, linear patterns resonated with the view of Park Avenue’s midtown skyscrapers, full of offices where no doubt some of Kriemler’s best clients work.