If the fall season on display six months ago was all about Michael Jackson -- extreme shoulder-padded 1980s -- then spring is about the deconstructed, ripped and slashed, ugly/pretty anti-fashion 1980s that was ushered in by Comme des Gar&capercus;ons, Yohji Yamamoto and other Japanese designers.
During the just concluded New York Fashion Week, Marc Jacobs referenced the mood most faithfully with his extravaganza of underwear as outerwear, gender-bending ruffle-trimmed pinstripe jackets and clownish playsuits with harlequin cutouts. Elsewhere, the look was more sexy -- zippered and slashed crepe sheath dresses and ripped cashmere sweaters at Michael Kors; softly sculptural, asymmetrically draped dresses and cone-shaped skirts at Narciso Rodriguez; Army jackets, windbreakers, sweat shirts and white poplin button-downs remade into skirts and dresses at Alexander Wang and Proenza Schouler. (Jonas Gustavsson & Peter Stigter / For The Times)
