Millicent Roger’s American sportswear meets working woman chic is the inspiration for Julies Chaiken’s Fall collection. For the opening sections the palette is gray and white and slowly Chaiken added some color. She kept the silhouette long this season, the skirts and dresses are hemmed below the knee. One of the standout pieces in the opening section is a blue-gray wool/jersey blend dress. The tailoring of the dress is a tight silhouette, which compliments the modern minimalist look Chaiken was achieving. Unfortunately Chaiken took this tight tailoring and used it in the outerwear pieces of the collection. Although she made sure that the pant pieces were more relaxed. A lot of the pant had a baggy leg and another standout look in the opening section is a pant look, a light gray wool pant with a baggy leg pant worn with a pale gray blouse. In the second section Chaiken adds more color and continues with a long silhouette. Then in the third section she moves into a black and white palette showing various looks for evening. From oversized and draped white cashmere sweaters to the long flowee jersey gowns in yellow, red, green and the crowd favorite purple.

In the middle of the evening section Chaiken showed 4 looks that had Indian embroidery and beaded details. These looks were interesting and the detailing was beautiful, but they stood out like a sore thumb. The major statement pieces form the collection are the modern silhouette pieces which you can attribute the inspiration from even Donna Karan. The first must have look from the collection is a oversized and draped sleeve white cashmere sweater worn with heavy baggy leg black wool pant. The other must have look is gray cashmere knit sweater dress. The body of the dress is tight on the body and the sleeves are flared from the elbow. The looks for Fall are some of the most toned down looks we’ve seen Chaiken do to date. While the collection has been commented as being safe, the androgyny style of the collection is very prominent and is strong statement. I am not sure if I really grasped the idea of Millicent Rogers in the collection, rather I see more Katherine Hepburn and Donna Karan through out. The collection is very warm and full of life were as Rogers is colder and brasher. Overall this collection has an abundant number of strong pieces and looks. Bravo Madame Chaiken!

View complete collection at Wireimage

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