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New York Fashion Week spring 2014: Richard Chai review

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NEW YORK -- Richard Chai showed his spring 2014 men’s and women’s runway collections at the Lincoln Center tents Thursday, the first day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York.

The inspiration: When recently asked by fashion-industry trade paper WWD for the season’s inspiration, Chai summed it up in just two words: “Soft geometry,” a simple straightforward answer that translated into something considerably more nuanced on the catwalk.

The look: There was certainly enough geometry to make Euclid himself proud – among them a silk dress in patchwork geometrics of white and red (described as “grenadine” in the show notes), stripes of every, well, stripe gracing women’s shirtdresses and trousers, and even a couple pieces that paired poppy prints with eye-popping geometrics in cornflower blue.

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The softness was there too – for women that meant double-breasted cotton/nylon blazers and diaphanous trouser legs that billowed like twin parachutes; for men that meant pajama-like shorts, oversized trousers and poplin shirts. But the collection was also about the juxtaposition of textures too – most notably in the surfeit of solid seersucker that showed up on Bermuda shorts, pleated trousers and double-breasted jackets, but also in the black-and-white-striped mixed fabrication T-shirts and a sequined see-through skirt that shimmered like exotic fish scales with every step.

The scene: Christina Ricci, Zachary Quinto, Louise Roe, Colton Haynes (“Teen Wolf”) and the Jonas brothers were among the celebrity guests seated in the front row.

Notable news: This season marked the debut of a collaboration between Chai and outerwear label Andrew Marc on a range of leather jackets (earlier this year the designer had been tapped to serve as a creative consultant to the brand).

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While the quilted leather on some of the supple leather jackets fit in with the textured geometrics seen throughout the collection, the rest of the details -- the inside-the-elbow sleeve zippers, chunky pocket snaps and double rows of buckles -- felt just a bit heavy and out of step with the rest of the easy-breezy, light-and-easy catwalk collection.

The verdict: Totally textured layered luxe -- and a short course in soft geometry that Chai passes with flying colors.

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adam.tschorn@latimes.com

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