It appears that Donna Karan has come full circle. She described her fall 2006 collection as, “Opposites attract..contrasting textures and volume to create high drama”…but it was much less about high contrasts and more about a well edited, tightly focused, pared down point of view, the one that was at the heart of her 7 Easy Pieces collection that started it all, back in the mid 80’s. Donna, who has had her share of artsy, highly philosophical moments, has done a cleansing of the palette and I mean that literally. The clothes exuded a modern urban luxury in their subtle, practical, understandable appeal, the models looked cool, calm, and collected, and the colors were stripped down to her signature camel, ivory, gold, red, aubergine, and black, (with nary a print in sight).

The silhouette could best be summed up as short and somewhat close to the body, with hits of controlled volume- but nothing exaggeratedly so. The mainstays of the collection was the bodysuit (wool felt or stretch jersey), the short subtly draped jersey dress (sometimes with a cowl back or decorated with graphic mirrors or crystal beads), the comfy cozy knee length egg shaped coat, the belted trench, (like the burnished gold version), and the lean skirt suit, always paired with black opaque hose and high heeled rounded toe pumps. There were only a handful of pants, and they looked great- most often in black, cut lean, and long, paired with unfussy tops (long sleeved with sheer mesh insets) or fitted jackets for a tuxedo effect. Even the finale, traditionally comprised of statement making long gowns that seem to have the red carpet or grand occasions in mind, was stripped down to a group of restrained, draped jerseys- like the elegant, sleeveless camel jersey which curved slightly over the hips, and was accessorized with a burnished gold wide belt and multiple gold chain ‘bib’ necklace. And in a season where it seems that every designer showed at least one long red gown, Donna’s sleeveless deep v neck draped beauty with a wide red satin sash at the waist was simple yet standout.

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