Kanye West stirs up fashion controversy during NYFW

Kanye West stirred up fashion controversy in New York Wednesday with a second edition of futuristic clothes and by dropping a new song, before Hugo Boss gave a master class in style. Here are the highlights of the penultimate day of fashion week before the spring/summer 2016 shows switch to Europe:

Yeezy Season Two

Fresh from declaring an improbable bid for the US presidency, rapper West pulled in celebrity friends to unveil the second edition of his military-inspired Yeezy fashion range.

Models marched in military formation to barked, martial-style orders as West revisited the high-rise nude leotard and tights look that characterized the first season of his line -- sponsored by Adidas -- and still not available in retail stores.

The Yeezy woman of spring/summer 2016 cuts an androgynous figure kitted out in grey combat boots, high-rise leotards, matching tights and masculine, bagging tunics and military-style jackets.

There were caps and hoodies. Hair was swept back, and eye make-up heavy. Under strip lighting, the desert hues -- green, orange, yellow and tan -- appeared translucent and very pale.

For men, there were long overcoats in black and grey, which looked to be in World War I trench warfare style.

Critics took to social media to trash the clothes, but there was praise for the new West song, dropped in the finale. As with practically everything that West sets his mind to, the show came laden with controversies.

British tabloid The Mirror reported that he asked models to sign a 10 million dollar non-disclosure form not to discuss him, Kim or any of the Kardashian family, annoying some of the models.

The 38-year-old also angered designers who said his last-minute scheduling would unfairly suck attention away from their shows in rival slots. The select few were sent invitations on vacuum-packed, camouflage tee-shirts. For lesser mortals, the rapper announced that it would be live streamed at cinemas in 36 cities worldwide.

Hugo Boss

Creative director Jason Wu told AFP backstage that his sensual collection was inspired by Bauhaus, the inter-war German art school known for form, functionality, color and shape.

"I wanted the clothes to move, I wanted the tailoring to take all the stuffing off the tailoring, everything had movement, and there was this real sense of femininity," he said. A stand out were organza dresses, in cobalt blue or orange, belted at the waist and wafting in soft pleats.

They had technicality and fluidity, he explained. The Hugo Boss collection was a stunning display of clean German cool with organza panels in skirts and blouses. Colors were orange, Prince of Wales plaid, black, white, lime green, yellow and bright blue.

He also used asymmetrical fringes -- a hot spring/summer trend -- as in Wu's personal collection, which was unveiled last week. "It's just something about clothes and movement which is particularly attractive right now," Wu said.

There were also three tuxedo-inspired dresses, which Wu said to him were "pure boss" -- its tailoring DNA "but feminized, reimagined, rethought." "It's not about big ball gowns anymore," he said. "I think there is a new way to be dressed up and I thought it was a very nice proposition for the modern woman."

DKNY

Public School duo Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne unveiled their first collection for DKNY, featuring lots of black and white, after the label's founder Donna Karan stepped down in June.

Michael Kors

American designer Michael Kors, who sits atop a global fashion empire, unveiled a romantic collection that he said embraced "natural glamour" and "earthly elegance." Screen siren Naomi Watts was in the audience as the models powered down the runway in relaxed tailoring -- oversized white shirts and floral prints.

(Jennie Matthew, AFP)