(1 of 8) NYFW Fall 08: Zac PosenAt Posen’s show, a few of his loyal fans could be spotted in the front row looking slightly uncomfortable in the designer’s sample-size corset dresses. (His intricately tailored pieces are genius when standing up straight or striding on the red carpet, but when forced to squeeze into the VIP section, things can get a little constricting.) Fortunately for them, Posen scaled back his construction and focused instead on lavish textures, mille-feuille layers, a liberal dose of whimsy—from pom-pom hairpieces to Gone With the Wind hoop skirts. The best pieces of the season seemed aligned with the runway backdrop’s wall of jumbled gold chairs: Wearing filmy slips of dresses, glittering garter belts, and other spotlight-hungry embellishments, models resembled ’30s dance-hall girls who—after the lights dimmed and the chairs were turned upside-down on tables—headed out for the night in their fanciful dancer’s dishabille. Look 1
