The rag & bone boys can cut a mean skinny trouser and an even meaner military jacket, but the most eye-popping motifs from their spring 2011 collection, shown this morning on Little West Twelfth Street, were perhaps none of those things. Freja Beha opened the show in a striking harness bra worn under a white jacket with matching pants. Harnesses could be seen in various styles throughout the collection, under tops or over jackets; when a harness wouldn’t do, there was the occasional zipper bra, worn on the outside, suggesting designers might not quite be done with spring 2010’s ubiquitous underwear-as-outerwear trend (we’re still keeping our fingers crossed that the diaper-shorts moment has passed).
The collection was accented with super-shiny silver fabrics on pants and jackets, and included plenty of long, sheer skirts — a style also favored by Jen Kao. (Vena Cava showed long, flowy skirts, too, but theirs weren’t as sheer.) Will the long, possibly see-through skirt be the must-have item in nine months? We’re kind of rooting for the harness so you can strap in and act out an action sequence anytime, anywhere, but we still have plenty more shows before it’s time to sort the trends.
Meanwhile, as the Fugs noted, Jessica Stam didn’t walk rag & bone today, but sat front-row next to Jessica Szohr. Stam told us she is walking a lot of shows this season in New York, and didn’t rule out another collaboration with the rag & bone boys, though she hasn’t done any pieces with them — or for a line of her own — lately. She just has her Rachel Roy collection in Macy’s for now.
See more: rag & bone’s Spring 2011 Collection
