Lifestyle - Ralph Lauren's Arabian Days

NEW YORK: The harem pants shimmered with gold sequins. A Turkish turban swathed the head. And at the hip hung a flask with the authentic look of Lawrence of Arabia's desert water bottle.

Ralph Lauren's show, at the end of the New York collections, was not so much a tale of One Thousand and One Nights as inspiration from Arabian days. A fretted Moroccan lamp hung above the runway, and David Lauren announced that his father would soon be off to open stores in Dubai and Istanbul.

"I feel the whole world thing - that energy," Ralph Lauren said after the parade of clothes that followed a predictable colonial safari route - cream day dresses and khaki satin pants - through a more exotic world of a gilded serpent belt and a snake charmer's turban.

Yet Lauren's concept is always that, wherever his dreams take him, the DNA of the brand is just under the skin. So the khaki drill shirt, the gilded leather jacket, the beige shorts and mannish ties were a gilt-and-dust version of quintessential Ralph.

Lauren's previous forays to exotic territory were more historic and romantic visions of Indian maharajahs. The problem with this show was that the Muslim world - however vague the references to Dubai, North Africa or Turkey - is just too emotive a subject to embrace as a fashion costume party.

Donna Karan once spoke up for women through her clothes. But at a time when "the sisterhood of pantsuits" is a red-hot subject, the designer just goes her own drapey, droopy way, showing dresses wrapping the body in soft folds of satin in a stream of watery colors from ocean pale through moonlit silver to sludge and plankton green.

"Liquid assets" was the name the designer gave to outfits so soft that ultra-wide white pants puddled over the feet and to a jumpsuit with what Karan called a "water-reflection" print. The only slight shift in style was that the lapping fabrics plunged low at the front.

It all seemed in tune with the designer's beloved Urban Zen, the name of her shop attached to the show studio. But there is a moment in fashion when consistency turns stagnant. If there were new ideas from Karan in this collection, they appeared to have roots elsewhere, like the mirror appliqués at the neck that recalled Marni. The familiar drapes seemed like the designer was referencing herself.

Ralph Rucci's hand has never seemed so light as in his Chado Ralph Rucci collection, where openwork effects became an art form. From a tiny square cut out at the backbone, giving an erotic charge, to lines of shadowy nudity where sheer fabrics were inserted, the show was a master class in dressmaking.

But if Rucci has sometimes seemed austere in his couture vision, this show - or at least three-quarters of it, before the grand gowns swept out - seemed approachable and easy. The color palette was also light in spirit, with a fresh lime green and raspberry added to the designer's favorite beige and taupe. The artsy effects were also low-key, with plaques of gold sequins creating graphic shapes. It added up to a show of Rucci at his best.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee is a rare Indian designer whose designs incorporate ethnic handwork yet translate into Western style. Skirts made up of scalloped shapes, colorful buttons used as decoration to match a polka dot print, embroidery and beading were all used in moderation by the Calcutta-based designer.

If some of the barely decent tunic lengths and the Sarah Palin-style glasses and hairdos looked like trying too hard, Sabyasachi played more subtle games of proportions with mid-calf skirts and tank-top vests using his signature skills with texture and print.

As Sabyasachi said: "Everyone wants to get the mass out of manufacturing - and that is where India scores."