NYFW Fashion Show Reviews on 11 FW '21 Designer Collections (PART 1)
- Alyssa Couture
- Feb 23, 2021
- 15 min read
Updated: Mar 31, 2021
New York Fashion Week
February 14th, 2021 was the start date of the virtual New York Fashion Week. The ready-to-wear brands/designers are some of the visionaries that keep fashion influential. High fashion brands are needed to keep fashion alive.
In this article, I will introduce you to 11 inspiring ready-to-wear designers and their F/W '21 collections that were my favorite. I will cover menswear + womenswear collections from several of the top fashion designers/brands from #NYFW '21.
In each collection review:
I introduce the RTW brand/designer
I talk about their style/aesthetic
I talk about their FW '21 fashion show, film, presentation, etc.
I review and describe several looks in their collections that will be a part of the fall '21 fashion trends
This article is part 1 of a 2 part series, on the NYFW show collections. The second part will have 11 more collection reviews from NYFW-- the designers that showcased after the 22nd of February. I will also be doing a review on some of the London fashion week shows for next month, so stay tuned.
NYFW TRENDS
Each designer has their individual, unique trends that are a part of their collections. I will be talking about a few of my favorite outfits from each collection that I am sure will be very trendy for FALL '21. I think all brands have a few trends that they bring new to the industry.
Many of the NYFW presentations listed below are co-ed shows; they showcased their menswear and womenswear collections together within the fashion show/film/presentation.
In this NYFW review, I will showcase a photo of one look from each brand. The photo will be one of my favorite looks from each collection. I have linked the brand's name that is the title above the photo in the article to their site. Also, you can visit NYFW.com to see each of their presentations. Signing up is free, but you have to sign up to see the collections on their site. Many of the shows are also on youtube and the brand's websites too.
The designer collections that I will be covering in part 1 + their Instagram account:
Courtesy: Jason Wu
Jason Wu is the designer for the ready-to-wear label Jason Wu. He merges classic, sportswear, and feminine elements into his work. He uses many Haute Couture sewing techniques. Many of his fine fashion fabrics are from the mills in France and Italy. So, some of his clothes have some Italian style and French style to his fashion looks.
Jason Wu was the first designer to present at New York Fashion Week. Wu’s collection is modern, young, and fresh— he included many trendy details to his designs. He presented a fashion runway show. The fashion show theme was runway models walking through a busy market, in the city.
Wu has some great FALL ‘21 pieces.
A particular piece that I loved was his oversized, extra-long coat with color-blocking. The fabric on the front of the coat was black with white, black, red plaid on the back part of the coat. It is very urban.
Wu also showcased many beautiful printed fabrics and fabric patterns throughout his collection. Many of the blouses and dresses were very classic yet modern.
Photo credit: Volatile Online
Rvng is a luxury fashion label. The event was presented as a fashion runway show.
The collections are designed by Jordan Stewart: the ready-to-wear fashion designer.
Rvng is a ready-to-wear designer of dresses and formal dresses.
The collection had very glamorous, beautiful dresses that you could wear to a ballroom or formal event. She also designed several, fun, glam, glittering pantsuits.
All of the garments in the collection are very glamorous with a Hollywood-style aesthetic.
The pantsuits were very modern-looking.
Another design in their collection is the pantsuits with bold-colored, silky fabric.
What was fun about this runway show was the filmmakers got a birds-eye-view angle of the camera of the show. The camera was in the air facing down-- and the models would twirl the large dresses that had a lot of fabric. The fabric and dresses looked very beautiful when the runway models were twirling the dresses at this angle.
Courtesy: Maison Kitsune
The next collection I reviewed is by Maison Kitsune. The creative director is Yuni Ahn. Ahn's collection has a Paris meets Tokyo type of fashion style. In their fashion show film, they used large floating mirrors in different shapes.
They had several vintage-inspired silhouettes and fabrics.
They used elements of designs that were influenced by 70s rock, grunge, and sport. This combination of different themes gave a futuristic, modern feel to the collection.
Due to their color palette, the fashion's were very energizing yet also grounding.
Maison is the French word for 'house'-- Kitsune is the word for 'fox' in Japanese. Their fall ’21 collection is classic, preppy, modern, casual, and very stylish. Maison Kitsune has a music label, coffee shop, and fashion brand. They have merged them all. This is a very futuristic way for the fashion business industry.
Photo credit: Kaltblut Magazine
Here, I review the advanced, contemporary women's wear brand founded by Danish designer Christian Juul Nielsen: Aknvas. Aknvas is fun. They design menswear, womenswear, and unisex fashion designs.
Their FALL ‘21 fashion show music was pop and electro. This was an inspiring collection-- they featured models wearing their designs of a cropped blue sweater and a cropped red sweater. These sweater looks were my two favorite pieces in the collection.
They have many high fashion pieces with bold bright-colored fabrics.
One of the accessory pieces they designed and showcased was a braided bag with bright blue and bright navy colors-- the braids were like the size of rope.
They designed and styled a gorgeous plaid dress with a pink turtleneck underneath it. The plaid dress had a light brown and black color. The colors went well together.
Aknvas has a futuristic style and vibe to their FALL ’21 collection. Their cuts are very structured, yet they also have a very flowing and comfortable-looking aesthetic. They had a beautiful, quilted, puffer coat in a very dark red color that was extra-long. It was styled with a bright pink sweater and with a pair of bright pink-colored pants.
One of their menswear FALL ’21 looks is very stylish because they had the male model wear their very heavy-weight thick sweater design and a turtle neck, with a plaid suit jacket over the heavy sweater. The collection shared quite a few unisex pieces where a man and a woman could wear the same garment.
They designed a fun dark-green and dark-red quilted puffed crop coat. The quilted puff coat is in green color and its design details on the hood and the detailed pieces on the cuff of the sleeve are red.
The unisex pieces-- the two specific pieces I liked that were worn on a man and woman were a plaid trench coat and a bright blue crop sweater. Both of these pieces looked either feminine on the woman model and masculine on the male model. Their unisex garments create equality.
Photo credit: Moda Operandi
The next collection I'll be talking about is Studio Amelia. Studio Amelia is currently based in Sydney Australia. The founder and creative director is Emily Emilia Inglis.
Studio Amelia's FW '21 collection is very feminine with long dresses and elegant designs that are very contemporary. The designer includes many tailored pieces-- suit jackets and pantsuits. The Studio Amelia FW '21 collection includes versatile pieces. They like to create and design looks that can be worn in a casual and dressy way.
I enjoyed the Studio Amelia fashion show presentation. The fashion film included classical music. The film had nice lighting-- everything was in a dark shadow-- yet there was a light beam-- almost like a window of the sun streaming through on the posing fashion models and their looks.
The fashion models made very slow, creative, dancing movements and rhythms in the film.
The models were serious-looking so it was a very emotional video. The way that the models moved with the lighting moving around really made it a very beautiful fashion video.
The collection has a beautiful neutral color palette with lots of long flowy dresses, beautiful dressy pantsuits, and stylish trench coats.
One fashion look had a long, thin, black scarf tied around the woman's neck.
The scarves are flowing in the air in the film.
They used a lot of modern neutral colors like: black, khaki, and light grey.
Photo Credit: ©KoH T, Photography by Takatsugu Kanda
KoH T is a Japanese ready-to-wear luxury fashion brand by designer Taisuke Kohji. Kohji's designs are very modern, and contemporary. The designs include elements of athleisure, sportswear, style, and minimalism. What I like about his collection was that the clothing was very high fashion yet very casual and wearable.
The KoH T Fall '21 collection has classic yet urban pieces. The designs have a Japanese influence as well as an American influence in the KoH T fashion designs.
The fashion show had a beautiful ambiance, with electro fashion show music in the film. In their fashion show film-- the models were walking through a walkway that was very futuristic-looking. Then, towards the end of the show, all the models were walking down a hill in nature with grass all around. The music and their particular collection made the nature background look futuristic. It made the designs look futuristic as well.
Taisuke's collection had a lot of modern neutrals.
Many of the jackets had a lot of technical details that made the designs have a sleek minimalistic, yet complex feel.
There is a classic yet urban look to KoH T menswear and womenswear collections. Both collections had a lot of masculine elements.
There was one men's designer look where the model wore a long black dress design, yet it didn't look like a dress it was more of an extra-long tunic shirt that went down past the knees. The look was very masculine looking however in the long shirt/tunic-- very fashionable.
There was one particular look-- a female model wore his blazer design with a belt over the blazer. Their white blouse was underneath the blazer in a stylish way, and the model had their black thin pant designs tucked into the boots. This is a great look. All the fashions in this collection are very cool.
Courtesy: Bevza
The next collection I will be talking about is Bevza by fashion designer Svetlana Bevza. Bevza is a contemporary women's wear label established in 2006 in Ukraine. Her fashion collection is clean with minimal-like silhouettes. Bevza has a timeless elegance and she designs looks with fine fabrics. Their fashion designs have a nice cut and fit. They believe beauty is in simplicity.
The BEZVA fall '21 collection is very beautiful. One of her accessory designs was a headband that made the women look a little bit like a goddess, yet also a little bit like a bohemian-styled person. They included a lot of feminine-looking pieces, yet they also include a masculine side with the structured pantsuits, for example.
They have designed a beautiful faux fur coat in white color, but it also has a two-tone light grey color to it.
The way the collection was presented and the way the fashion designs looked, there is a spiritual side to her label. The accessories-- gold-leaf earrings, and tall boots were worn with long coats and flowy skirts. She used fringe in the collection. The color palette was very neutral with a lot of modern black, khaki, white, and navy.
I like the way she styles their beanie hat. The models wore a mid-weight hooded sweatshirt and then they put the mid-weight beanie over the hood. It looks very stylish. It is pictured in the photo above. One beautiful piece was a light-blue denim mesh fabric sweater with a v-neck collar.
They designed a turtleneck with a darker navy blue color-- it looked stylish with their long skirt.
Another beautiful element was their braided belts. You will see braids in different parts of the collection. The braided headband that was worn over the forehead gave off a Native American vibe and this may be an inspirational look to the collection.
Another design was one long amber-colored dress with a very flowing silhouette-- long v-neck sweaters with turtlenecks. The turtleneck was made in a nice satin-like fabric. It looked great.
There was one beautiful sweater dress and it included a hood and the hood had a bit of a neck piece that covered the neck in the front of the neck.
Overall there's a very soothing aspect to the BEVZA FW '21 collection-- with pretty pastels, beautiful neutrals, a turquoise light-green color, and a beautiful khaki color. There's something spiritual to their silhouettes, so very modern, and futuristic. They look very comfortable and wearable as well as high fashion.
Courtesy: Tombogo
The next collection I'll be reviewing is Tombogo. Tombogo is a ready-to-wear brand made and founded by Tommy Bogo. His label is called Tombogo. Tombogo is an experimental learning outlet" for designer Tommy Bogo. Tommy Bogo creates avant-garde designs and I believe his designs are partly inspired by the culture and the current events in the world.
The soundtrack of Tombogo's fashion film was really beautiful. In one of the songs, it said a specific quote that I like: "I've been to New York, San Fran, and La just to find myself." I thought that was a very inspiring music quote. I have lived in NYC, San Francisco, and I currently live south of LA, but near LA, so the lyrics resonated with me and made me happy to hear them.
In his fall '21 collection, the designer Bogo chose fashion models that look real and down-to-Earth. It is nice to see fashion designers that are showcasing growth, and spirituality, and uniqueness into their collection. Bogo's fashion film was inspiring because it showed realistic people with their personalities that shined through and became part of the look.
So, the label paired certain fashion looks from their collection that would look well with the fashion model's personalities. It made the outfits more stylish, fashionable, and trendy.
The collection has an urban/city vibe. In the film, an artist is spray painting on a large poster board in the back of the film. The label has branded paint, and he had the spray painter using the Tombogo paint to spray paint a large painting in the background.
In front of this large painting, the fashion models were showing the looks while they were walking on a treadmill. The film is very interesting, emotional, and thought-provoking.
The Tombogo fall '21 collection is very urban, modern, and fresh.
Many of the looks are casual with lots of mid-weight fabrics, sweatshirts, and khaki pants.
Tombogo designed a screen-printed sweatshirt with the mural that was behind the models, within the fashion film.
One particular look I like-- the look was a puffed hat, with a nice light-brown/yellow cardigan sweater. For men-- there were more menswear looks than women's wear looks in the film, but the womenswear looks were very cool-looking and very strong.
There is an interesting detail with the shoes and the hats. They had a little pocket to put things in as an accessory. There are a lot of abstract screen-print designs. He had a great color palette, it was a bit masculine and feminine, so it was a good balance. One featured look that was really nice was a sweater for men and for women that had a fabric design of the city, that included the large towering City buildings.
Photo credit: CFDA 360
The next collection I'm going to be reviewing is Loring. Loring is a luxury, New York-based womenswear label by Long Xu. There is elements of futuristic design/style in his collection, as well as an urban and sportswear look.
The soundtrack of his collection is really beautiful. It sounded a little bit synth-wave and a little techno, and a little instrumental. The beginning of the collection for Loring was very pretty because the film started with dark lighting, and the lighting was centered on the model. It looks like the model was on a stage and it was completely black, and then the lighting eventually got brighter and brighter and brighter.
One great dress had puffed sleeves on the top part of the arm sleeve. It was a fitted blouse shirt, and the blouse dress, with a flared bottom from the waist to the bottom of the skirt.
Another design was a short, white, cotton t-shirt dress with pleats and a puffed-sleeve with black buttons and it had a beautiful cut. It looked really beautiful paired with a tall boot.
One great accessory piece is their long, dangling, chain link earring.
A stylish pantsuit design with wide-leg pants was worn with an oversized jacket. The fabric of the pantsuit is navy and white, with very large color-blocking stripes.
One of Xu's signature looks was the pantsuit with wide-leg pants. He designs quite a bit of dressy, formal fashions that are really stylish, modern, fresh, and urban. The cuts of the design are both masculine and feminine, so it has a good balance.
There is one particular look that I love. It was a black and white dress. It was paired with a very tall over-the-knee boot. The white dress had ruching in the center front of the dress all the way up to the turtleneck. The backside of the long dress was made with completely black-colored fabric, and on the front side of it, it was made with completely white-colored fabric. It had a nice a-line cut.
Another beautiful piece in the Loring fall '21 collection was a satin-like purple pantsuit. The fabric color is pastel, lavender purple. A great accessory was a large chain link necklace with extra-large chain links. His pieces are elegant and feminine and incorporate some masculine elements also. So, there's a great balance to the brand.
Photo credit: CFDA 360
This next collection I am reviewing is called oqLiq. by designers: Orbit Lin & Chi Houng. Their collection that was filmed and presented at NYFW is very futuristic. Lin and Houng chose to create a virtual fashion show film. The virtual models were up in space on some kind of planet. This made their beautiful collection even more interesting.
The oqLiq '21 collection is slightly spiritual. Several of their silhouettes are loose, casual, a relaxed fit. There are some Japanese elements to the pieces. The colors are a neutral palette yet futuristic-looking colors of different shades of grey, and different shades of blue and black.
The fashion film's techno song made the video even more modern. Digital/virtual models were up in space, spacewalking on a metal planet that was shaped like an infinity symbol. The virtual models were walking down some kind of 8-track wearing a cool-looking mask. The mask had three different colored lit light bulbs.
The collection is very creative and very interesting. Because the virtual models were digital, the fabric in the film had an interesting texture, like a seaweed texture. They chose to carry many plant-based fabrics in their collection, which is nice. The digital models had some form of print on their skin. It was almost like they were from a type of ET race and planet, which made it fun.
They designed several pieces with interesting details and interesting cuts.
One design was a trendy coat with different-colored pockets in the center of the garment.
One design was a vest with a hood in different colors, they included a lot of color blocking.
They designed a beautiful almost robe-like men's shirt that went down to the floor like a robe with no front opening. They designed a beautiful long-sleeved shirt with a diagonal zipper pocket in the front. There are a lot of seam decorations and inserting. They like to design the seams as a part of the design to create a decorative design element.
I like this collection. I love the multiple colors that were in one piece. They designed several garments with two to three colors within the fabric and/or design. The design is intelligent and the details of the design make you want to think.
Photo credit: WWD
This next collection and the final collection I am reviewed for Part 1 is the FW '21 collection of Theo by Teo Dekan. Theo is a contemporary label. The brand is a very trendy, edgy, modern fashion brand.
The Theo fashion show film was filmed in this beautiful wintry forest scene. The film had digital virtual snow falling around the fashion models as they were walking. The show included both menswear and womenswear collections shown together, and they called it a co-ed show. This seemed to be a trend this season.
The collection included beautiful long business suiting jackets that go long past the knee.
There was a long scarf accessory design, a polka dot printed scarf tied around the men's and women's necks as an accessory. It is a great look.
A male model showcased a large clutch that looks like a business case, I like this.
The Theo collection had a lot of nice neutrals paired with the polka dot accessory which gave it a nice accent color and interest to the look.
The dresses were very beautiful. The silhouettes of the dresses were modern and fresh.
The collection included both masculine and feminine looks to make many looks unisex and to incorporate both masculine and feminine elements into Decan's designs.
One look I liked-- there was an a-line dress and it had sleeves that were tapered and a slit in the center back of the dress. It is really beautiful. The cut and design of the dress was
a- line, it had a little bit of extra fabric in the back too.
Another look he designed: the men's coat with a pink-red color, it was long.
He designed a sweater dress--it looks both casual yet dressy. The cuts of the dresses were very structured yet elegant and feminine.
Another look from the menswear collection was a bright-yellow knitted beanie hat and a t-shirt turtleneck sweater in bright yellow, with baggy denim, flared pants.
They also had this knit turtleneck t-shirt sweater in a bright blue-- one of my favorite pieces.
Dekan designed a business suit and jacket for men. It was extra long, and the business suit and jacket looked a bit like a coat that went past the knees. It is a great look. Both the male and female models wore the business suiting pants and jacket designs. The designs have a white stripe piping along the side of the arms and on the side of the pants.
There was a stylish gray and purple trench coat worn by both men and women. It had a white stripe on the arms and looked very high fashion. Another piece that I like from the menswear collection was the bomber jacket it was in yellow with a black accent fabric.
Final thoughts
All of these designers and brands inspire me. NYFW and these brands, keep fashion alive. When I see the NYFW fashion collections, they always keep the dream of fashion alive for me. Great design is what makes ready-to-wear brands influential to fashion people, fashion professionals, and fashion consumers.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of the NYFW fashion review series, where I will review 11 more of my favorite fashion collections from NYFW.
Want to read more articles? Check them out here: HIGHLIGHTS
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