Donna Karan Collection Spring 2011

“Raw Romance” was how Donna Karan described her spring collection–and aptly so given the trip outside of the designer’s normal urbane world (think chic safari or desert expedition). The elements were all there–draping, fluidity and ease–but also in the fabrics, which were seemingly touched by water and wind. Much like what Karl Lagerfeld is able to do for Chanel, Karan is able to masterfully reinterpret season after season for her namesake line–always keeping a fresh perspective on natural beauty that is quintessentially her own. With a canyonlike backdrop from which emerged fresh-faced Karlie Kloss and a sand-covered runway, the desert-y hues of vanilla, driftwood, antique cream and antelope served as a welcome antidote to fall’s more severe, all-black collection. Charmeuse and the lightest tissue crepe satin were precision tucked, folded and nipped just so to achieve the perfect imperfection. Long and lean were these silhouettes, and if some of the dresses at times seemed to be too filmy they only served to further reinforce Karan’s ideals of seduction (hello necklines). The rules of structure were all but tossed out the window for spring; instead, Karan relied on the veritable female form and its natural curves to mold her stretch satins, linens and tulle. Ultimately, it was an exercise in restrained glamour that whispers, and not shouts, “I’ve arrived.”