9am on a Saturday and I am already at Lincoln Center for my first fashion show of the weekend. I haven’t been in this setting at such an odd hour since my ninth grade class trip to see The Marriage of Figaro at The Met. Thankfully this time the setting is far better and I am at the Spring/Summer 2013 show for Ruffian.
I have always admired the street sensibility of Ruffian‘s clothes, it appeals to my inner punk. However, this season the first words that popped into my head when those models started making it down the runway were tea cups and wallpaper. Okay, not the first words you want to hear when looking at runway fashion. But the Ruffian pieces that mixed toile prints and pastel jacquards with pompadours and Converses conjured this image of the Pink Ladies transported into the Edwardian Era. I half expected one to flip a switch blade and then another to remark how unladylike that was. For me, fashion is either inaccessible art or accessible clothing and anything in middle is just costumery. Sadly, that is what this collection felt like – something akin to the costumes I saw during The Marriage of Figaro.
But I admire the designers behind the line for picking such a distinct vision and executing it with each piece. And with craft like Ruffian‘s there will always be some standouts. Here are my top looks, ones that showed decidedly less restraint than the rest of the collection:
Please check out the full collection at http://www.mbfashionweek.com/photos_and_videos and I would love to hear your thoughts.
Allison
All runway images courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
Vera Sweeney is a mom of two beautiful children and the founder of 
