Oscar de la Renta Ready To Wear Fall Collection 2020

Monday night’s Oscar de la Renta show went down like a shot of glamour in this party pooper of a season when New York has been knocked down and abandoned something fierce.

It was late nearly 45 minutes late on top of an unnecessary 9 p.m. time slot, testing the patience of a high wattage crowd that included Annette de la Renta, Phillip Lim, Brandon Maxwell, Ezra William, Kathy Hilton and Nicky Hilton Rothschild.

But Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim wanted to have a party, and they did (though a sip of Champagne might have been nice), conjuring the house’s high society past and Hollywood present, and riding high off dressing double Academy Award nominee Scarlett Johansson.

Using Truman Capote’s 1966 Black and White Ball as a starting point, they dipped into the house archives of bubble skirts and swans.

“It was a party that Oscar enjoyed with Francoise,” Garcia said of the nostalgic impulse that led them to that epic night, and to clean, colourful tailored Sixties daywear updated for today, such as a punchy red double-face wool coat with double button cuff detail, over pink trousers

Caravaggio still-lifes inspired a moody floral silk faille dress that was pretty without being sweet. Herringbone coats and cosy sweaters were worked with crystal floral embroideries, and swingy short hems with tall boots kept things from feeling too stuffy.