NEW YORK • Showman Marc Jacobs on Thursday brought New York's spring/summer fashion week to a sumptuous close with a stunning catwalk display of Americana and 1940s glamour down the red carpet and through a fabled movie theatre.
The indoor-outdoor show allowed the public and fans to jostle with photographers for a glimpse of the decadent-looking models as they strode in the street before sashaying through the cinema.
The designer took over Ziegfeld Theater, seemingly the last remaining large single-screen movie theatre in New York, flashing on the billboard outside: "One Night Only, Marc Jacobs, #MarcJacobsPremiere."
Inside was a big band dressed in tuxedos, uniformed ushers handing out playbills and French maids offering concessions as if the crowd had been transported back to the 1940s.
Jacobs, who considers himself the brightest star in the New York fashion firmament, pulled in models of the moment such as Kendall Jenner.
They powered down a red carpet in the street outside, in the heart of New York's entertainment district, to the sounds of the city and cries of "beautiful" and flashing bulbs echoing under the tented canopy.
It was a magnificent touch, which, following on the heels of Givenchy that offered tickets to the public, cemented a new trend of widening beyond the narrow fashion pack as the audience for a show.
In keeping with the theatre and the larger-than-life creations, there was a cabaret, cinematic quality to the collection and the mix of casual sportswear and high-end fashion that characterise the label.
There were distressed pants in the stars and stripes of the American flag, military-style coats with brass buttons, an elegant 1940s silhouette to suiting and floaty transparent skirts that hinted at the 1970s.
It was as eclectic as it was different, a riot of different fabrics and colours, pointed flat baseball- style shoes and embellished stilettos, as well as Andy Warhol- like pop prints fashioned into suits, dresses and jackets.
Earlier, flame-haired screen sirens Julianne Moore and Jessica Chastain were the guests of honour at Ralph Lauren's Riviera-inspired collection of timeless elegance that saw French chic meet East Coast high society.
Ralph Lauren, who would have awoken to headlines that Britain's Duchess of Cambridge on Thursday wore one of his dresses to mark her return to official duties from maternity leave, is one of New York's most beloved designers.
He sent down the runway a spring/summer 2016 collection that married a French maritime look with East Coast society resort the Hamptons, with a slice of inter-war screen siren glamour thrown in for the evening.
Lauren came out to rapturous applause at the end, kissed his children and guests of honour, who rose to their feet to greet him, before walking the runway to Frank Sinatra's classic track I Love Paris.
Meanwhile, Jenner sat in the front row at Calvin Klein in a barely there red dress and towering black stilettos, as did actress Zoe Kravitz in cream.
Francisco Costa, the label's Brazil-born women's creative director, presented a collection that he summed up as "the morning after" - an exploration of "modern sensuality through intimate deconstruction".
The overall effect was unfinished, as if the pattern was still pinned to a mannequin in the studio.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
