New York Fashion Week: Timo Weiland touches down in British colonial India

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I’ve noted in several recent posts that a decidedly British influence is one of the take-away themes of the fall-winter 2011 collections. And one label that caught my eye for offering a fresh interpretation -- and by that I mean avoiding the bowler hat and Prince of Wales check caricatures -- was Timo Weiland, a New York City-based men’s and women’s line designed by the aforementioned Weiland and his design partner Alan Eckstein.

The pair presented 23 looks at the Lincoln Center tents that paid homage to British colonial life -- in India. On the women’s side, that inspiration resulted in glen plaid skirts and jackets with ikat jacquard inlays, bold red windowpane plaids that evoked the look of the Union Jack, a Bengal tiger jacquard, and an almost pointillist snow-covered desert landscape print in a range of blues, pinks and a pop of yellow, that appears on dresses, gowns and coats.

The menswear pieces, which were comparatively subdued, included five-pocket jeans in a range of colors (including a smart-looking royal blue), glen plaid button-down shirts, and a hooded, multi-pocket safari jacket in a super-subtle midnight blue windowpane plaid.

The collection was also peppered with polka dots, sparkling with Lurex and accessorized with a handful (make that two hands full) of faux fur muffs, which made the clothes feel as fun as they were fashionable.

I’m embarrassed to admit that team Timo hadn’t really been on my fashion week radar until now, but, based on the fall-winter wares on display, it’s an oversight that won’t happen again.

-- Adam Tschorn in New York

Timo Weiland Fall-Winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery