At NY Fashion Week, black is back, but without all the gloom

NEW YORK - Fashion for spring is back in black.

Black never went anywhere, of course - it's a perennial favourite with the crowd at New York Fashion Week. But for spring collections, the look wasn't terribly sunny.

The nod to the spring/summer season was to offset the black with white and shades of nude, blush and stone, all part of the overall muted look that has dominated at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Yet the black wasn't severe, especially rendered in featherweight fabrics in sheer organza, tulle and black lace. A wave of black swept the runways of Rodarte, Vera Wang, Badgley Mischka and Jill Stuart on Tuesday. It was even at a tongue-in-cheek fashion show for the Snuggie - the blanket with sleeves.

"You've heard what the new black is? It's black," joked host Ross Matthews, Ross the Intern from Jay Leno's "Tonight" show.

RODARTE

The ravens rose at Rodarte. With a smoke-filled runway beneath them, models wore outfits resembling the contradictory symbol of darkness and survival.

Even with tiny asphalt pebbles on the ground, haunting music and the smoke, all the drama really came from the clothes. Every garment seemed a cobweb of leather, yarn, ribbons, lace and cheesecloth. Some of the pieces were adorned with crystals, feathers and leather made to look like birdskin.

"They're incredibly inspiring, and their clothes are always inspiring," said Kirsten Dunst, wearing a glittery bronze Rodarte dress from an earlier season and sitting in the front row with the likes of Elijah Wood and Jason Schwartzman.

When stripped down without all the effect, some of the major trends of Fashion Week where here: draping, banding and lattice-like leather, among them.

BADGLEY MISCHKA

Badgley Mischka, long associated with the socialite party-gown set, has made a clean break. Thank goodness.

The highly embellished, glitzy gowns that made them famous wouldn't seem right for the times, even if we may or may not be out of the recession. So the design duo of Mark Badgley and James Mischka have found themselves a new niche, showing some lovely, more sophisticated clothes - ranging from a black-and-white tweed sheath dress to a black shantung jumpsuit that had a gathered halter neckline as well as a gathered waist and palazzo-pant legs.

A strong day-to-night look was a lilac and grey-striped, satin and chiffon dress, and for a black-tie event, there was a white shantung tuxedo. A white capri-length jumpsuit wasn't as tempting.

Still feel like you saw shine on the runway? That was all baubles from their own costume jewelry collection.

VERA WANG

No wonder Vera Wang has moved her show away from the frenzy at the Bryant Park tents - that atmosphere wouldn't do the elegance of her spring collection justice.

In her stark white SoHo store, Wang presented sophisticated styles that she said were influenced by the late Paul Poiret, who left an indelible stamp on fashion in the early 20th century. He gave women the freedom to wear looser chemise shapes, and Wang picked up on that: There wasn't a corset style in sight.

Unfortunately Poiret also championed the harem pant; Wang translated that for modern times in a droopy jumpsuit.

She mostly went for sultry instead of overtly sexy with layers of smoky-colored tulle, sheer black organza and artful, not flashy, embellished jewel details. Metallic pieces were a bit stiff, standing away from the body, while the bike shorts underneath the see-through styles hugged it.