Sleek minimalism meets sensuous drapery for a cozy yet polished direction. Prabal Gurung topped a robin’s egg blue pantsuit with a cropped wrap jacket that extended into a dramatic scarf. Joseph Altuzarra’s body-skimming camel dress featured a draped panel at the neckline and roomy, drop-shoulder sleeves. Catherine Holstein of Khaite went modern monastic with a grey wool column that gained interest from a cowl neckline that morphed into a chic hood. Christian Siriano showed a draped halter top worn with matching trousers, all in a gentle shade of blush. Proenza Schouler turned the season’s blanket scarf into a midriff-baring top, styled with a matching dress (worn as a skirt), all in cozy wool finished with fringed edges.

Black leather (whether real or vegan) moves beyond the moto jacket and offers its tough urban sensibility to dresses and separates. Proenza Schouler cut the material into a sheath dress with a train detail at the back. Willy Chavarria gave a black leather double-breasted blazer an edge with volume at the shoulders and sleeves. The jacket was styled over briefs for the new “no pants” look. Ludovic de Saint Sernin showed in New York for the first time in a collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, and the late photographer’s fascination with BDSM could be felt in skimpy leather separates that were accented with metal grommets. Olivia Cheng of Dauphinette used multiple black leather belts to define the torso, creating corset-like effect, and Khaite played with slightly different leather textures for a matte cropped jacket and glossy paper-bag waist skirt.

The post-pandemic penchant for comfort and the practice of wearing sweats for travel reinforce the need for polished tracksuits. Barcelona-based Custo cut camel-colored textured jersey into an easy set, styled over a photo-portrait tee. Sandy Liang, queen of downtown girly-girls, gave her gray sweats a femme twist with self-fabric rosettes. Marc Jacobs used a bouncy double-knit for his hoodie-and-flare-leg ensemble that got its newness from an exaggerated silhouette. Phillip Lim spliced a camel jersey with panels that sported cargo pockets, giving the look a utility spin. Heeled booties underlined the notion that this tracksuit was more fashion than function. Puma, under the creative direction of Heiko Desens and Alastair McKimm, showed a luxe Bermuda set cut from glossy white and metallic silver.

Black and white is always in fashion, but gets renewed each season by designers’ creativity and vision. This season the timeless combo looks particularly fresh in graphic prints and patterns. Kobi Halperin used an op-art checkerboard to enliven a silky trench coat. More pop art came from Area, where designers Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg used googly eyes for a halter top and paillette-covered miniskirt ensemble, complete with 60s flower-power daisies on the shoes. Joseph Altuzarra used harlequin diamonds for an appealing fit-an-flare maxi-dress, and 3.1 Phillip Lim gave his gray-scale lizard print top a graphic punch with mitered black stripes at the yoke. Johnson Hartig of Libertine, known for his prints, played on the black-and-white qualities of written text with oversized white letters on a black background.