Images courtesy of the Designer
We embrace different fashion styles and get the recycled aspects of design.
Influenced by the 40’s, inspired by Chanel, with reference to Vionnet blah, blah, blah.
And probably, the urban chic “Medieval armor” of the Fall/Winter (2008) looks we saw at Lyn Devon’s has antecedents in the eighties/nineties futuristic looks of Thierry Mugler, Anne Demeuelemeester, early Helmut Lang (though the young designer toiled at Zac Posen and Ralph Lauren before hanging up her shingle in 2005).
And yes, Devon made the “tough but elegant” looks her own.
We were a tad nervous on our hike over to 37th street to a right off the West Side Highway, desolate strip of industrial buildings, that pre-Giuliani days, sported working girls and trannies on the prowl.
The Affirmation Arts space was ideal for a fashion presentation…and this one was hopping with an atmospheric soundtrack by Alexander Posell, and populated by the biggest collection of (no doubt) straight businessmen ever assembled for a fashion event. Maybe some private equity-tiers who are funneling boatloads of money into the biz.
The presentation served up 13 looks that were “sculpted and contoured, textured and layered, quilted and corded, then slashed, zippered and snapped.” These were the clothes our gal pals in the music business, architects and artists would wear including what Devon coined a “fencing jacket” in bright Richard Serra Arch orange over a black wool fencing quilted above the knee skirt with a prominent off center gold zipper, …and a Swarovski crystal embellished navy shirt dress titled “Spear”dress with nifty slashes.
We also chatted up the M-A-C cosmetic team who used the company’s Mineralize Skinfinish to stern chiseled effect…though the Groucho Marx eyebrows were definitely an atmospheric touch.