Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera Presented Their Collections at New York Fashion Week

The designers for uptown girls Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta took over the runways at New York Fashion Week on Monday, February 6. Both embraced a warm, caramel-based color palette, laced with a lot of black.

Fashion Week still has to hear from several influential designers, including Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan and Vera Wang, before the finale Friday night by Karl Lagerfeld.

Oscar de la Renta's fall collection confirms some of the emerging trends. His runway had metallic fabrics, three-quarter sleeve tops and jackets worn with long gloves, belted jackets, sweater coats, and both skinny cigarette pants and wide-leg cuffed ones.

Herrera said she was inspired by the late '50s, but many of the outfits were reminiscent of the sportswear of the '70s, when American ready-to-wear first put its stamp on the world. She sent several suits down the runway. The skirt suits, in a rust plaid, were fitted and to the knee; the pants had wide cuffed legs. Herrera used that technique for the sleeves on a black and brown wool dress that was otherwise simple, but yet so very sophisticated.

Herrera matched coats with cocktail dresses to create a complete outfit, and the chocolate broadtail coat with a turquoise swirl print lining with a pleated strapless dress in the same fabric was a standout.