New York Fashion Week: Zac Posen

Hilary Alexander reports from New York fashion week

"Minnie Mouse meets Helmut Newton", declared Zac Posen, minutes before his autumn/winter collection hit the catwalk.

	Sky high: British model Karen Elson walks tall after falling in her skyscraper heels

I counted 230 gilt chairs piled up in a kind of surrealist sculpture and nailed to the back wall, but there was no trace of the snarling Alsatians Newton relied upon for foreboding effect, although the models did sport black pom-pom like head-dresses reminiscent of the Mouseketeers.

There was a cute, cartoon-like quality to the black and white opening outfits: little blouses with high, piecrust frill collars tied with black ribbons and paired with yellow pencil skirts, emblazoned with black PVC spots on the hems, as well as the neat suits with ruffled collars and the waist-coat cuts to the jackets.

The trouser suits were Newton-esque, cut to cling to every pore and ideal for the blonde Valkyrie-like models he preferred.

Agyness Deyn strode out in a skintight grey herringbone tweed short bolero-jacket and skirt, the neckline filled in with ropes of pearl-grey beads. Less appealing were the short-sheer, stretch singlet-like dresses which revealed black suspenders and shocking pink stockings, more Crazy Horse than strictly necessary.

Posen saved the best for last - a truly romantic parade of shirred, ruffled, finger-tip pleated tulle.

The skirts were sometimes like ballet-dancer tutus, or otherwise swept the floor, but many were 'hooped' or reinforced with wire so they dipped and swayed like crinolines in Gone with the Wind.

The statuesque Russian Tanya, was doll-like in a red and grey quilted satin bodice allied to a tulle crinoline ballgown and Karen Olsen - although she tripped and fell in the odd, pointy-toed, satin platforms with skyscraper cone heels - at least collapsed like a graceful cloud in a cloud of dove-grey ruffled and pleated tulle, rising again just as gracefully to complete her turn on the catwalk.