Daphne Guinness, who has given inspiration and friendship to several designers, may have snared the best look in L’Wren Scott’s fall collection, a pert-collar minidress in teal-and-pearl gray satin stripes.
Ms. Guinness, actually a guest at the designer’s show and not on the catwalk, finished off the look as only she could: with a flock of diamond brooches on her shoulder and sparkly blue fetish platforms. Ms. Scott thought the dress would stick out like a sore thumb in her lineup, so she let Ms. Guinness wear it. The dress still had its day.
Things are done a little differently down at Ms. Scott’s place, which is really the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea. There is the main event — the collection, which, like all her collections, she gave a name: “Tuxedo Terrace.” In doing so, she put her finger on a weak point in fashion. Today formality doesn’t mean pomp and circumstance, but neither should it be lumps of bad taffeta.
It is, in fact, good tailoring, whether a black cutaway over a slim black beaded skirt, a midnight-navy velvet jacket, or one of Ms. Scott’s figure-loving wool dresses. She just makes sure she is in charge. It’s not for nothing that every season she offers a new version of her headmistress dress. This time she has a high-neck white shirt and a black pencil skirt with sexy straps.
Ms. Scott’s shows are also unusual in that between her and her boyfriend,
Mick Jagger, they know a lot of famous people, like Ms. Guinness or the “Mad Men” actress Christina Hendricks or Ellen Barkin, but as a matter of course. The celebrities are not put into what amounts to a pen so the photographers can get their shot. They are seated with everyone else, journalists and editors, at a long white table and served lunch.
This arrangement is not incidental to Ms. Scott’s design purposes. Even the most glamorous eye-popping dress has to relate to something real if it is to be considered modern. She helps to break down those barriers. So Ms. Guinness throws new light on satin stripes. Ms. Scott, perhaps too calm and cool this season, might have had more choices like that. The knits she has added to her line, in particular a short black drape-y dress with silver embroidery up one side, were tops.