Second season in a row, Joseph Altuzarra delivers one of the best collections of New York Fashion Week. His winter offering was a refined look-back at his signature, urban elegance; for spring-summer 2024, the designer nods to Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and Miuccia Prada’s style, an aesthetically-ecstatic combination of references. The film’s haunting undercurrents felt close to the surface of Altuzarra season, with tulle veils and matching 1960s babydoll dresses and the she’s-come-undone details, like the crushed textures of everything from slipdresses to A-line coats, gauzy organza slips peeking out from underneath the hems of pencil skirts, and the DIY-ish embroideries on other skirts and dresses. Miuccia’s spirit could be perceived all over the bourgeois lady-likeness, which is never obvious; there’s always a sexual tension behind it. To tempt the clients who want to play around with uptown sexiness, Altuzarra had satin coats in red, butter yellow, and ivory that were A-line and somewhat oversized, “almost as if you took a doll coat from the ’60s and blew it up a little bit,” and a strapless polka dot trapeze dress straight out of 1950s couture. There was also a pair of gowns, one black with thin straps, and the other a white tank style, that looked neither twisted, nor bourgeois; they were simply striking.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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