DKNY debuts without Donna Karan while a smiley Kendall Jenner leads the Michael Kors show

It was a new day for DKNY without Donna Karan, as a new designing duo pushed the reset button on the American sportswear brand with their debut collection.

‎The New York City that was Karan’s muse when she launched DKNY in 1989 has certainly changed, as evidenced by the soaring cranes, bustling construction sites and altered skyline at the southern tip of Manhattan. Once the neighborhood characterized solely by Wall Street firms, now the Financial District is also booming as a residential, tourist and retail destination. So the DKNY show was held here, underneath the transit hub at One World Trade Center, the symbol of the new New York.

The designers tasked with reinventing DKNY are New York natives Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osbourne. In recent years, they have made their mark at their own Public School label by bringing a unisexy, multilayered, streetwear vibe into fashion and winning a handful of industry awards in the process.

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On the runway at DKNY, it was about the pinstripe suit disrupted. The designers loosened up the business uniform of old and adapted it for today’s creative workplace, starting with the opening look, a boxy, oversized blazer as mini dress, and the second, a wrap skirt, draped and ruched like a sarong, worn with a white T-shirt.

Pinstripe wrap dresses and skirts came with asymmetrical hems, utility straps or white poplin pleats peeking out. Sleeveless pleated shirts topped tailored shorts. Loose silk tank dresses trailed crisp white shirttails. And breezy, black-and-white silk twill shirtdresses were printed with pinstripes-turned-brushstrokes. For evening, a hybrid black twill and lace coat dress had a hint of 1990s grunge.

‎DKNY is a massive American brand, one that reportedly accounts for 80% of Donna Karan International’s sales, and what these guys did will undoubtedly be the most radical thing to hit Macy’s in a while.

The vibe may be familiar to those who remember Helmut Lang in his heyday in the 1980s and ‘90s. Nevertheless, it will look new to Public School’s swelling millennial fan club in new New York.

But when it comes to true innovation, no one does it like Proenza Schouler. Designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez sent a jolt through what has been a sleepy fashion season creatively with their vision of radical romanticism.

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A black ribbon tie set the mood for sweet sensuality on the opening look, a white jacquard vest with cutaway shoulders, worn over flared pleated viscose pants. The shoulders were a focal throughline on tailored jackets that revealed, cotton lace dresses that slid suggestively and cutout knit dresses that wrapped the body in soft ruffles bouncing up and down on the models and lending a touch of Cubanisma.

Cotton poplin dresses charmed with rows of pompoms or fringe. And that wasn’t the only craftsy touch. The tunics of linked feathers? Fabulous. Same with the sheer mesh skirt of spherical silver balls and the flouncy, off-shoulder dress covered in ‘em, like silver dragees sprinkled on a cupcake.

There wasn’t much of a surprise factor at Michael Kors, where the designer continued on the path of earthy elegance he kickstarted a few seasons back, and which so many other designers are embracing now.

That meant easy tailoring in fluid silk, crinkled gauze or crushed cotton (no iron required!). Circle skirts came in rustic, fraying florals or with cha-cha ruffles edged in studs, worn with ribbed wife beaters (remember wife beaters?).

But this collection was not as compelling or luxurious-feeling as per Kors usual. Even though many designers are revisiting and refining rather than reinventing this season, he didn’t advance things enough.

The most memorable moment? The giant smile on Kendall Jenner’s face as she led the finale walk.

Greg Lauren should be smiling. What started in 2009 as an art project for the L.A.-based nephew of industry kingpin Ralph Lauren is on its way to becoming a full-fledged lifestyle brand as is the family way, with men’s, women’s and accessories.

For spring, Lauren pushed his fraying, military-utility aesthetic in a more romantic direction, while also showing polished loungewear pieces, such as a sweatshirty fleece swing jacket and draped pencil skirt, hybrid jean-sweatpants and an elevated Baja tunic with open shoulders over a silk wrap skirt.

In fading fabrics, lovingly aged and distressed as if by sun, sand and sea, Greg’s collection is the relaxed West Coast yang to uncle Ralph’s preppy East Coast yin.

It makes you wonder, now that Donna and Calvin have left their namesake brands for the next generation, and Ralph is the last one of the big three American designers still standing, if Greg could be the heir apparent in the family business. Now that really would be radical.

For the latest tweets from the seats, follow me @Booth.

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