>> Ohne Titel's Alexa Adams and Flora Gill told Fashionista backstage that their Spring 2010 collection was their strongest yet, and they weren't kidding. Inspired by "the graphic lines, lush textures, and bold colors in Egyptian reliefs and sculptures," according to their show notes, Adams and Gill adapted their signature tailoring and body-con sensibilities to span an oxymoronic look of primitive modernity.  They elaborated to The Cut: "We looked at a lot of wall painting and sculptures, and so we’re kind of playing with taking those same kind of proportions and applying them on the body."

Lace-up heels, flats, and thigh-high boots done in collaboration with Cesare Paciotti are sure to have the shoehounds drooling, and the prevalent texture in the collection — including patches of multicolored hand embroidery — was exquisite. Alastair McKimm, who worked with Alexander Wang the last two seasons, styled, and both Cathy Horyn and Visionaire's Cecilia Dean appeared front row.

>> Erin Wasson, who dropped by Charlotte Ronson just hours before her own RVCA show, brought the party to the Tents with a little live performance by Gang Gang Dance while a movie shot in the California desert played above them on a big screen, reflecting the show's inspiration.  Behati Prinsloo and boyfriend Jamie Strachan were front row, as were Bruce Willis and his wife Emma Heming; the runway for Erin's first catwalk show got underway fashionably late — almost an hour after the scheduled time.  

She told the Huffington Post of her move from presentation to the biggest Tent: "I was given a wonderful opportunity to be here. I did have doubts though. Was it too much too soon? Who am I to think that I belong here? It was very humbling. It was a very hard decision to make but when life hands me an opportunity I'm always up for the challenge. Go big, and go home!"  As for her appearance as a party girl in Sofia Coppola's upcoming movie Somewhere: "[It's] half a second. If you blink you're going to miss me. I have no speaking lines."

>> In January, Jason Wu went from buzzy among the fashion community to internationally known, thanks to one Michelle Obama, and his Spring 2010 reflects the sudden change in pace: he's trying to go a little sexier, and little more modern to have an all-around broader ready-to-wear reach.  He added knitwear, outwear, and daywear, launched four styles of sunglasses, and hopes someday soon to get into handbags and accessories.  

Ymre Stiekema made her New York Fashion Week debut at the show, and Yulia Kharlaponova slipped and fell on recently-Windexed mirrored runway, but that wasn't the only slip-up in the collection, according to Cathy Horyn, who wrote in her review:

"Have you ever become completely irritated by a box of chocolate? You know the kind: concept chocolate, artfully arranged in a just-so box, flavors exotic and trying. I’m afraid that was my overall reaction to Jason Wu’s collection on Friday at the St. Regis Hotel . . . He should try a little less hard is the answer. Not everything in life is a spotless decorator interior or a magazine spread. He should loosen up a bit. And why the uniformly short hemlines, six inches above the knee? That in itself is the sign of a fairly conformist outlook."

 

>> Marcus Wainwright and David Neville are expanding Rag & Bone in every which way for Spring 2010 — sunglasses in three types of tortoiseshell, accessories spanning belts to stick pins to sure-to-be-clamored over wedge boots. Just as much as the show is about cool girl basics — this time flutter-backed tops and fitted leather jackets — and how show stylist Tabitha Simmons pulled them all together, it's about the models.  Iselin Steiro, who hadn't walked a runway in a year, opened; model-to-watch Emily DiDonato made it her first runway show ever; Kinga Rajzak debuted a newly-dyed brunette 'do; and Jessica Stam, who is said to have collaborated on the collection, sat front row and Tweeted about it — she's only doing two New York shows, the first is Anna Sui.