New York Fashion Week: The romantic side of Narciso Rodriguez

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Narciso Rodriguez has long been an expert in the kind of sleek, minimalist clothing so many designers are interested in now. So I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that he decided to go in a different direction for spring, exploring a looser silhouette and his romantic side.

Don’t get the wrong idea though. Rodriguez’s version of relaxed is something else. The sharply defined circular neckline on a loose-fit, white linen jacket ensured that even with slouchy trousers, this look was sophisticated.

There was more than a touch of romance in his lingerie-like, bias-cut silk slip dresses with sheer floral and dragonfly patterned insets, or overlays with falling petal designs. Other dresses had bronze sequins trapped inside layers of netting.

And at a time when the late Carolyn Bessette Kennedy is fashion-relevant again -- as an example that simpler can be better -- seeing the body-skimming nude and barely-there blush silk bias-cut gowns with wide-set spaghetti straps that closed the show, you couldn’t help but think about the wedding dress Rodriguez made for her so many years ago.

-- Booth Moore in New York

Narcisco Rodriguez spring - summer 2011 runway collection photo gallery