DKNY is part of the landscape of New York, at the time DKNY launched it 1984, it reflected what was happening on the streets and in fashion. If current designers Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow‘s translation is correct, New Yorkers are tired of frou-frou dressing and want something architectural, sporty, a little heady and minimal…just not the way you’d expect.

Osborne and Chow took brand standards: sweatshirts, cozy sweaters, shirt dresses, and outerwear, and they shredded, yanked and distorted them, throwing in some subtle boxing details (the way hoodies were worn up and the logo trimmed waists). A work blazer and sailor pant, for instance, were reworked as a roomy jumpsuit while white and black sweatshirts were frayed, cropped, cinched and done in luxe materials.

Similarly the classic trench was turned into a sailor-front shirt dress, cinched with an architectural bum bag. Elsewhere, if it rains, New Yorkers are set: just pick an extra-long athletes anorak, rain jackets and pull-overs. There were even sheer safari jacket styles done as ruffled dresses.

Colours were bright blues done in tonal mixes, while baby pink, white and tan filled in the rest of the collection. The shoes, meanwhile, were futuristic slip-on hybrids with basketball sneaker-like treads done in solid colours.

At times, it felt like one layer, flap and ribbon outside the DKNY codes. But this is just styling. Boiled down to the clothes, and there were the pinstripes, sporty minidresses and covetable knits that the collection is known for. So the modern New York youngster, no matter what her personal style is, will be able to wear it as she wants.

From: Harper’s BAZAAR US