New York Fashion Week: Let The Revivals Begin

Reviving old brands has become the accepted method of launching "new" designers? Why? Well, it's really hard and expensive to build name recognition ergo if you take an old name and attach a new designer, the work's half done. Or so says the consensus. This season it seems there's more revivals than ever before. I've written a feature on four of the big ones, that all happen to have their roots in the 1970s. But today's revival was a house better known in the 1980s, Herve Leger. Max Azria, the designer behind BCBG, which showed yesterday, did what was predicted. Tight, bandage dresses. I didn't see the show myself, but judging from the ample array of photos taken by our photo editor Brent Murray, Azria took the BCBG palate of colors and shrank the shapes to emphasize every hint of a curve of those skinny models. Max has said he wants to take his company public next year. History has shown that Wall Street prefers a group of brands to the risk inherent in just one. This Leger collection was pretty predictable. It won't set the fashion world on fire, but those left in the lurch by Leger's absence should be suitably impressed with his replacement. □