Fall 2009: Spring Comes Early at Chris Benz

By Xiyin Tang, Photos by Jeff Luker for Refinery29


Count on Chris Benz to show one of the brightest, splashiest, down-right coolest collections of this rather dour week, recession be damned. The dapper designer admitted that the economic downturn was pretty far from his mind. Rather, he was, "thinking about a return to New York nightlife and late '70's and early '80's clubs, about uptown girls sneaking downtown." Having always secretly wanted to be such a young lass, we almost cooed with delight. The strong looks of bold primary colors—reds, lime greens, bright blues— grouped together according to color and including a fiery red tights-and-skirt combo that Blair Waldorf would scheme to get her hands on. All collided at the very front of the room in a fantastic array of multicolored, splashy, and painterly silk dresses and blouses accented with sequined skirts. When Benz said after the show that he was hoping that by the end of fashion week "spring will have sprung," we felt that it already had.