NEW YORK (AP) – Tracy Reese had dancers pop out of the audience for a brief performance that opened her New York Fashion Week show Sunday, putting her inspiration for spring – the choreographer Martha Graham – into motion.
Reese divided her clothes into three “acts,” along the lines of how Graham lived life: discipline, craft and exuberance, the designer explained backstage.
She built slowly from a series of dark black dresses and skirts in gabardine and stretch crepe to bright yellows, greens, pinks and purples in mixed prints and sparkly embellishments.
Reese said some of the prints were inspired by nature, succulent gardens and the insects that inhabit them.
She paired a wide-necked sweater patterned in a desert landscape with a miniskirt in a bright fuschia floral. A green strapless maxi dress was printed with cactus flowers and worn with a raffia check jacket in another shade of green closer to kelly.