New York Fashion Week: Selena Gomez at Polo, A sea breeze on Spring Street

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Associated Press is all over New York Fashion Week, from the runways to celebrities as eight days of spring previews entered their second day Friday.

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SELENA AND CIARA AT POLO RALPH LAUREN

Selena Gomez and Ciara took in the air from the rooftop of the McKittrick Hotel for Polo’s eclectic spring presentation that offers pops of bright colour and dark-wash denim.

Models stood in clusters, some beside planted foliage sipping water, as the crowd moved around them. The singers were joined by up-and-comer Tinashe, who professed her love for denim.

“I definitely like a boyfriend jean, just relaxed, kind of fun. That’s when I feel super-confident, natural,” she said.

The brand’s new dark-wash jeans were joined at the presentation by bright green skinny pants, purple blazers and pink collar shirts. Others wore reds and the guys showed off classic looks in blue and tan blazers, and a bright pink pullover sweater.

Still other models were dressed in bold floral garden party dresses, with the same print carried over to a skinny pant for women. There were also dainty blue-and-white stripe button-down dresses paired with green and orange jackets.

Ralph Lauren said in a statement this Polo woman has a “sophisticated attitude, is well-bred, with a downtown edge.”

The season is “not just one look, but an eclectic mix” for spring, he added.

—Leanne Italie

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SPLITS AND SPARKLE AT BETSEY JOHNSON

Of course she did her signature cartwheel. Of course she landed in a split, rolled over on her back and lay splayed on the ground, just luxuriating in the applause.

Folks, she’s Betsey Johnson.

The 73-year-old designer with the signature blonde mop on her head was having her usual grand old time on Friday at New York Fashion Week — actually, perhaps even grander than usual — as she celebrated 50 years in fashion with a delightfully zany show heavy on sparkle, colour, stripes, flounce and pizazz. Oh, and balloons: the show ended with all her models holding silver “50” balloons as they skipped around in a circle, Johnson among them.

In a backstage interview, Johnson said she was dedicating her show to her now 94-year-old dance teacher.

“She was my teacher from when I was 4 years old until high school,” Johnson said as she prepared for the show. “Ballet, acrobatics and tap. You know, I wanted to be a Rockette.”

Johnson’s fondness for the Rockettes — and dancers in general — was obvious from Friday’s runway display, a gathering of some of her favourite designs that celebrated, decade by decade, Johnson’s remarkable career. She decided to go backward in time for this show, beginning with the current decade, and then working her way back to outfits evoking the 1960s, when she began in fashion.

“I just wanted to take this moment and celebrate … the 50 years,” she said. “And the costumes. I took my little costumes and remade them for big girls. And you can see every aspect of my inspiration when you see these costumes: the puffed sleeves, the tutus … I mean, it’s all there.”

—Jocelyn Noveck

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SEA BREEZE ON SPRING STREET

Acrylic clutch bags for the Instagram age took an oceangoing turn down in Soho, thanks to Edie Parker founder and designer Brett Heyman.

She put colorful, squiggly jellyfish, shells, hula-skirted ladies and anchors on her spring collection, mixing her signature playful acrylic with raffia, linen and wicker. And she didn’t scrimp on the wordage, which some love to hate, offering “Chillax,” ”Gay” and “Ahoy.”

Heyman’s bags are all over red carpets, with her kitschier versions also drawing celebrity attention.

“This is a funkier collection,” she said. “I think someone with a fearless style would be good.”

Like Gwyneth Paltrow?

“She has a bag of mine that says ‘Baller.’ I love that she bought that,” Heyman laughed.

Edie Parker launched in 2010, driven by Heyman’s love of vintage, mid-century style. Since, she has become a darling of the young and fearless, including Lupita Nyong’o, and she sells around the world in places like the Harvey Nichols store in Dubai and Neiman Marcus.

Last year she made it into the Top 10 for the Council of Fashion Designers of American/Vogue Fashion Fund Award.

“We have so much support from the red carpet, from celebrities,” Heyman said as she showed off her latest beachy collection in happy hues of sea blue, sea foam and swirly, coral pink.

Heyman said she had the African/Brazillian goddess Yemaya on her mind. She may or may not have created the sea, and she’s credited as a granter of wishes. At the dreary, drippy start of fashion week, a touch of ocean life might just have been one.

—Leanne Italie

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BLACK LIVES MATTER

Designer Kerby Jean-Raymond’s collection for the Pyer Moss label launched Thursday night with gripping and now familiar videos of police violence. The choking death of Eric Garner. The teenage girl thrown to the ground outside a Texas pool party. The running down of a suspect as lights flashed. The smashing of a car window, and then cries.

He said his show was about defying stereotypes — “the thug, the entertainer” — and redefining the black narrative in America.

During the show’s opening video, which combined the images of confrontation with a range of interviews with singer Usher and others on the need for change, people in the audience gasped or murmured. In an added touch, artist Gregory Siff moved among the models on the runway, quickly tagging the mostly stark, sport-ish clothes.

On the back of one robe, Siff scrawled “Breathe Breathe Breathe,” a likely reference to Garner’s repeated plea, “I can’t breathe.”

Even some models didn’t know what they had signed up for until they heard the video begin backstage.

“I was so blown away by it, it was unreal,” said British model Abby Clee. “I knew I was definitely moved. I was a bit teary but thought, ‘No, I shouldn’t cry when I’m about to go out.’ I think a lot of people were quite moved, by their faces. Obviously, it means quite a lot to them.”

Clee said she was honoured to be in the show.

“I thought the message that they’re sending was absolutely amazing,” she said.

—Cara Anna

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Associated Press writer Nicole Evatt contributed to this report.

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