London-based designer Negarin Sadr’s aims in the fashion world are fairly clear. The text on her website speaks of “the busy woman on the go” and “reasonable prices.” Negarin is a market-driven and focused label, and the clothes are designed to hit that spot towards the upper end of what is known as “contemporary.” As such there was a strong focus on some trend-driven elements such as color blocking, shorter lengths, and comfortable cuts. However… there was more going on with this collection than immediately met the eye.

There is a charge that is occasionally leveled against fashion designers by both those who do not know much about fashion, and more surprisingly sometimes by those who do. In essence it boils down to, “oh they just do the same thing over and over.” The accusation is most often simply because the critic doesn’t really look closely enough at the clothes. Every great designer grows and changes each season but they do so without losing their signature. It is the signature, the outward expression of that designers unique point of view on clothing that makes their work seem unchanging, but, it’s also what makes their work sell. Selling clothes for a reason other than price is a great achievement. It means that you have connected with someone, your work helps them express themselves and it’s a marvelous thing.

This is a fashion film about the tactile experience of clothing, featuring garments and accessories by Laruicci, Odilon by Stacey Clark, Sretsis, L’Autre Chose, Mandy Coon, Blank Silk, Dominic Loius, Circa Sixty Three, Plutocracy, Suzanna Dai, Irina Marinescu, and Rynshu.

For The Blonds, Fall 2012 is the season of the donor cycle. David Blond’s father is a motorcycle enthusiast, so the designers took that inspiration to create their first collection that includes designs specifically for men. The Blonds bring their signature va-va-vroom to menswear with leather jackets encrusted with jewels and trimmed in fur. The Blonds listened to their clients and created a line that gives the same rush as riding a bike on the open road. The menswear features “the richness of the layering of different cultures” with pieces in gold and silver graphic prints with a tribal re-imagining of chains and spikes.

Remember that Mad Men scene when Peggy Olson takes a trip downtown to a party where all the artists of the 1960s New York art scene are hanging out? That, with a rush of additional color, is what the Corey Lynn Calter’s Fall 2012 presentation looked like.

For once, black was in great debate this season, due to all of the color Fall has brought with it. But Dawn Han’s Fall 2012 collection retouches New York’s timeless idea of all black for all occasions, and adds to it a new sense of pride. “This collection is 1930s meets military meets menswear. When I get behind a vision, it’s always a mixed basket of ideas,” Han explained. With multiple drawings on the table, Han tamed each one into a strong collection that visibly flowed. And when asked why the choice to remain loyal to black, Han simply stated, “It’s just easier for me to work with. And I love it.” In the past, critics have slammed the lack of color in collections, calling it a safe zone and tired, but Han presented a collection was not only liberating and innovative, but far from boring.

The act of romanticizing a bygone time and place is in and of itself a lovely thing to do. Floating and free of the frightening knowledge that if you had been alive then you could have, say, never used the Internet or had access to trusty penicillin. In creating his Fall 2012 collection, Tadashi Shoji was entranced by the golden age of Shanghai, of the late 1920s and 30s. Shanghai is one of Mr. Shoji’s favorite places and with this collection he paid homage to the city’s legendary past. Incredibly romantic, soft, and supple pieces glided down the runway one after another, creating a hypnotic effect. The entire Lincoln Center crowd was wrapped in Mr Shoji’s warm nostalgic reverence.

Leather dresses, pants, and jackets of the Sachin + Babi Fall 2012 collection rolled out to a remix of “Rapture” by mid-1970s band Blondie, setting the tone for a fast-paced show. The contrast of hard, embellished leather with flowing chiffon created edgy but not overpowering looks that flattered the female form with the use of architectural silhouettes.

The Carmen Marc Valvo Fall 2012 collection is inspired by the Femme Fatales of Old Hollywood, tough cookies like Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck and Veronica Lake. These ladies were smart and beautiful and never needed to play coy. You see this attitude within the Carmen Marc Valvo Fall 2012 Collection. For years, designers have looked to film noir for inspiration, but Carmen Marc Valvo has created an innovative collection employing those nods to the past with modern sensibilities and high end textiles. His designs feature classic lines with fashion forward fabrications.

Rachel Roy likes to mine a good inspiration. For her Fall 2012 collection, Mrs. Roy was smitten with a film about women landscape architects and what their unique senses and approaches brought to their art. Mrs Roy has a unique approach as well, so although the color palette was mostly derived from terra firma, as one would expect, she still managed surprise in both concept and execution.

Observing Lyn Devon’s presentation of her Fall 2012 collection, one has the initial sense of stepping back in time to the late 1950s. Like her past seasons, these outfits are consciously based on the classic American styles of that period, worn by women such as Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Onassis. Ms. Devon modernizes this style through the use of bold patterns and rich colors. In addition, she makes brilliant but subtle use of pleating and darting to make the outfits more befitting the female form, in essence finishing work others began.

At her first show, designer Abigail Stewart worked a creative writing background and magical sense of imagination to her advantage as she presented her Fall 2012 collection, which was enchantingly haunting. Picking up her talents by way of her master-weaving mother, who always helps construct the hand-made fabrics, Stewart used silk and satin-faced organzas, felted wool, and mohair to exhibit the hovering factor she found when visualizing ghosts and their weightless qualities. “I wanted to bring in Nine Inch Nails to make the characters dark and edgy, because the collection is already so feminine,” Stewart said jokingly. The designer named her collection “Bone Machine”, after Tom Waits’s 1992 studio album, as she felt his music was dreamlike.

The leap from presentation to runway can be tricky for emerging designers. Those required extra few looks can be a surprising trap that catches many less experienced designers unaware. Bibhu Mohapatra may be considered by many to an emerging designer, but in terms of runway shows, as we say in New York City, not so much. In his nine years as design director for other labels, he presided over 18 runway shows and 36 presentations. So it came as no surprise that the collection was a precise representation of what Mr. Mohapatra envisioned.

For quite some time, Chris Benz was fashion’s pink-haired “it boy.” It seemed the harder he went, the kookier the clothes seemed to get – and it was evident that just about everyone who was anyone loved it. Fall 2012 for Benz, though, was the equivalent of waking up to a shining, crisp New York day, and walking down into the train station only to be met with “Insufficient fare” after swiping your metro card. Heavy expectations carried even heavier disappointment. It seems as though with an increase in attention, designers tend to continue pushing their creative envelopes, but this season, Chris Benz went a little too far.

Maximum style, minimum effort. That goal is the holy grail for a lot of fashion designers. Nobody wants to look sloppy, and good casualwear does not equal sloppy. Consumers desire to look good but to have the clothes that get them there to be easy to wear. In their second Lincoln Center runway show, New York City’s own Timo Weiland took giant strides towards achieving that goal and capturing the prize of that being for what their brand is known.