After last season's kooky Mad Hatter mashup, it seems only fair that for Spring 2013, Marc Jacobs would offer us something easier to grasp. A little fashion palette cleansing, perhaps?

Thankfully, that's precisely what we got. After all, what's easier to understand than a little good old-fashioned sex appeal?

But this wasn't sex appeal in an aggressive Versace kind of way — not that there's anything wrong with that. No, we're talking here about Marc Jacobs, and Jacobs is a very particular sort. He likes to break convention, and he likes to send his messages mixed. Neutral hues and graphic stripes on pared-down silhouettes with a mod secretary slant? That doesn't sound so outright racy. But when they come in the form of unbuttoned jackets that show a little midriff and skirts slung low enough to expose the hip bone, or as languid gowns with chiffon slits that expose a flash of thigh and long-sleeved dresses accented with cutouts to reveal just a bit of shoulder skin, well then the idea comes across loud and clear.

Maria Cornejo's show notes called her Spring 2013 collection future primitive. 'It's about looking towards the future, but with a nod to the past,' she said. The most forward-thinking thing about this collection in particular may be Cornejo's exercises with balanced shapes and squared hemlines — new tricks for a designer whose past collections have been concerned with asymmetry. The clothes this time were geometric in a different way: jackets made from scuba material had soft shoulders, slightly nipped in waists and ended in straight lines. Voluminous skirts jutted out at the thigh before coming to a close under the knee.

The color palette and imagery in the clothes helped with the futurism, too — steely grays and crisp whites felt clean, and a blue-and-black print was actually a photo of a Giacomo Balla sculpture from the '20s.

Cornejo gave the same treatment to a picture she took of crop circles from an airplane window and a street art collage. That sentimentality was part of this collection's look back at the past, as was the hand-knitted macrame from Bolivia and hand-crafted Victoria Simes jewelry included in the collection.

For Spring 2013, Karen Walker's running theme was outer space. While that may sound a little more techy geek than usual for Walker, never fear. This play on the intergalactic came by way of the '50s and '60s, when, you know, people thought that we'd be whizzing around in jet packs and rocket shoes by now. It's actually pretty sweet to think about.

Thus, these were clothes that came infused with brightness, yes, but also a bit of nostalgia. Silhouettes were midcentury and sweet, with bell sleeves, ruffles, and prim little collars, while planetary prints, metallic-coated leather, and floating layers of organza hinted at celestial travels. But despite this collection's focus on a retro notion of the future, it still managed to feel thoroughly rooted in today.

Elie Tahari said he wanted his Spring 2013 presentation for Elie Tahari to look like "a 1950s cocktail party in a Richard Neutra house in Palm Springs." That meant lots of bright colors like coral, pool blue, and pale green alongside images of tropical flowers and watercolor prints. Among the collection of well-tailored basics, Tahari's use of lace contributed to the most compelling pieces. A black floral version was laid over a sparkly blue A-line cocktail dress with strong pleats, and skirts combined brightly colored lace with contrast neon piping at the hem.

Chris Benz used his Spring 2013 collection to make a few important introductions: he unveiled a handbag collaboration with The Cambridge Satchel Company, showed off jeans from his new CB Denim line, and affirmed that he's lowering his price points to appeal to a wider audience.

How do all of these new initiatives affect the clothes themselves? To the untrained eye, they don't. Spring for Benz is still as vibrant, multicolored, and pattern-mixed as his previous collections, proving that his visually rich aesthetic can be accomplished with less.

Inspiration, curiously enough, came from the idea of the zombie apocalypse. But these clothes weren't the blood-spattered costumes you'd see in The Walking Dead or 28 Days Later. "I wanted it to be pretty in an off-putting way," Benz said. He achieved that through layering vibrant graphic printed shorts and jackets with floral dresses and blazers, or putting sheer lace dresses over jeans, or covering whole looks with a lurex shirt or an oversize neon knit cardigan. Afghan blankets affixed with gigantic orange, brown, and yellow paillettes were an equally quirky accent. Could they mean a home collection is coming around the bend? We wouldn't doubt it. After all, in Benz's world, more really is more.

If DKNY was all about young women moving through the city that never sleeps, Donna Karan's Spring 2013 line for her grown-up eponymous label examined what happens far above the streets of the bustling metropolis at sunrise and sunset.

A muted palette of morning's dove gray and pink, dusk's pale gold, and midnight's dark blue set the stage for a languorous array of garments cut from crinkly cotton that had a well-worn feel. The dresses that weren't loosely draped around the body took a modern approach to the empire silhouette or surrounded the legs in soft pleats. Jackets ranged from trim bias-cut toppers to floaty, trapezoidal arrangements, but none had buttons or snap closures. Instead, they made loose and sometimes tenuous connections predicated on shape alone.

In true Karan fashion, the gowns were draped almost effortlessly: two with asymmetrical necklines caught the breeze the models created coming down the runway. The final look, a strapless blue work, featured pale orange whorls that called the setting sun to mind.

My my, hey hey; rock 'n' roll is here to stay — or at least it is for the posse of bed-headed grunge girls that Phillip Lim sent down his Spring 2013 runway. To a melancholy rendition of Neil Young's "Into the Black" by Chromatics, they drifted by — hands in pockets, eyes smudged with kohl — like old-school Courtney Loves headed into the daylight after a really good night. But where the Courtney Love of 1994 reveled in her ripped-up tights and tattered toddler dresses, these girls were undone in a modern way that could only be pure Lim.

The designer's starting point, the show notes said, was the literary "cut-up" technique employed by '50s poets and '90s musicians — the act of creating something and then literally cutting it up and putting it back together into something new. Thus, there was an artful, pieced quality to the slouchy layers and mixed-up prints on offer: an overall dress, for example, was sliced and inset with chiffon, while one gorgeous raspberry biker jacket had a second zippered underlayer that made for a cool trompe l'oeil effect.

Its no secret that Wes Gordon has cast quite a spell on the New York fashion scene. Only a few years out of Central Saint Martins, he has not only already won a Rising Star Award, but also, he has been named as one of this year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nominees. It's a trajectory so quick that it wouldn't be surprising if Gordon sometimes found himself wondering what kind of magical forces might be at work helping him along.

Not that he should. His Spring 2013 lineup, with its dark drama and subtly undone elegance, was plenty enchanting in its own right, and it's clear that Gordon has his own innate talent to thank for that.

The drama we've come to expect from Olivier Theyskens's Theory line was in full effect for Spring 2013. This time around, however, it was infused with something new: a slouchy, relaxed sort of mood. Pleat-front pants were cut roomy in the hip and thigh, while boxy jackets and tops had wide, heavily padded shoulders.

But it was a series of frosty-hued looks midway through that really showcased the designer's newfound sense of softness. With their gently cinched waists and rounded curves — and in delicate fabrics like honeycomb boucle, chiffon, and silk encrusted with pearls — they felt light as air and unexpectedly ethereal.

"The idea for the stripes actually came from the ones you see on vintage luggage and old travel cases," said Martin Cooper of the decorations in his travel-themed Spring 2013 collection for Belstaff, the second offering since the brand's relaunch earlier this year. "I just love the romanticism things like that evoke."

But this collection didn't just evoke the glamorous feeling of traveling in the past, it re-created it. Cooper dug deep into the Belstaff archives, dusted off its classic Trialmaster jacket and updated it with stripes and a more feminine shape. He affixed silk jumpsuits with with leather accents and toughened up shirtdresses with brass snap buttons. Some of the looks came down the runway with generously sized bags that could serve as carry-on luggage in a pinch, which helped reinforce the feeling that the Belstaff woman has places to go.