They sit ensconced in high-end fleeces and wools and furs and leathers — layers that are useful in the cold but unnecessary for surviving the journey from fireside couch to snack bar.
Leather is looking to be a key signature fabric for Lim, and it was used in the right ways as to be modern and powerful: "bulletproof" vests, leather-layered-under-wool coats and cropped leather shorts.
The leather is layered and finished in a process that can take months (hence the heady prices).
Kimberly Ovitz had some nice moments in her collection of dark weedy dresses and leather jackets layered over pieces with long hairy fringe; it's just that it seemed like the same moment rewound.
The charm wore off, briefly, with the introduction of Lenny Kravitz, who looked terrifyingly ageless in a leather jacket layered over a chain-mail tank top, chicken-bobbing his head close to the microphone as he played the guitar and sang a high-pitched rendition of Perry's breakout hit, "I Kissed a Girl".
Copies of WWD are stuffed into trash cans; uncommonly tall model-Martians slip into crowded subway cars to make it to their next show; gangs of photographers idle on long Chelsea blocks, snapping away as the show-goers troupe in, unfastening coats that reveal tutus, leather shorts layered over tights, and thick fur collars.
" 'I have to be back for this.' " Ms. Mearns may look like a swan queen when she's dancing -- there is the fluid ease with which her arms unfurl from her supple back -- but swathed in black street clothes, she could be a model for the designer Rick Owens: leather pants, layers of scarves, silver chains everywhere.
Breton's signatures were deftly tailored menswear suiting: jackets paired with slim shorts or cropped pants, luxurious high-gloss silk, metallic and satin fabrications, Asian-inspired prints and corset detailing on the women's looks, from lacing at the backs of gowns to leather corsets layered over dresses.
Surround the leather in a layer of newspaper, after you clean it.
