This is the first time that I’ve seen this collection and the name of the label is cool in itself. “Mik Cire” is the designer Eric Kim’s name spelled backwards.

This show had an usually high percentage of men in the audience because it was a menswear fashion show. I don’t know which was more entertaining, the runway show, or the style of its attendees. It was extremely fun watching the men stroll through to their seats in their creative, avant-garde and daring outfits. One of the fit looking gents in the audience was covered in body art from the waist up, so he merely attached a pair of braces to his slacks and that was that. His colourful naked body was his top.

I really enjoyed Eric Kim’s collection. It was full off cropped harem pants and clamdiggers — definitely not a mainstream look but completely wearable for hip and fashion forward blokes. Tapered elbow length sleeved T’s, sleek leather jackets, waistcoats, and beanies were strong.The feeling of the outfits were both casual and tailored. Love that look on men! The palette of the collection was great too: black, grey, off white, olive and deep red.

I can easily see Eric Kim’s styles being adapted to mainstream fashion. I’m not going to get Greg into knee length harem pants, but he happily wears fairly refined knee length shorts. A great look.

I begin to feel very starved of colour if I don’t wear it regularly in my outfit or as an accessory. So to make up for head to toe black on day 2, I wore an explosion of colour for all of day 3.

The morning started with a New York City YLF gathering, to which I wore a blindingly bright citrusy sour green blouse. The get together was delightful and you’ll hear more about that next week. Before heading off to the next show, I went back to the hotel to change into another rather bright ensemble.

I popped on a watercolor sheath dress that forum member Laura found for me at the last New York City gathering. I still absolutely love that frock and wear it often! I topped it off with my citron birthday trench, red Kate Spade party pumps, the polka dot Lulu Guinness and lots of pearls. I had my colour fix!

I don’t know what happened to my feet though. I can usually wear my much loved Kate Spade stacked heel pumps comfortably for two hours before I have to tear them off (after all, these are my sitting shoes). But my feet were in pain after half an hour and I had to persevere until we returned to the hotel several hours later. And so my foot challenges continue.

Unfortunately we got to the Ports 1961 show late because we were held up at EDITION Georges Chakra. It’s a scramble getting from one show to the next when they are back to back, so we ended up standing right at the back with our view obstructed by heads, camera lenses and cell phones.

From what I could see of the collection, it was just lovely. Very cool, summery and invoking an oasis in the middle of the desert. The range was predominantly made up of sandy colours and soft fabrics. Lots of tan, nude, off white and light grey with a touch of black, bright purple, emerald green, cobalt blue and chartreuse. The clothing looked soft, yet structured. Quite a  few one shouldered looks, voluminous styles and cinched in waistlines.

Of great note: hemlines were ON THE KNEE. Does this mean that hemlines are once again creeping back down? I selfishly hope so. Ports also showed quite a few wide leg trouser cuts alongside skinny silhouettes. A good mix.

I was extremely excited to see this show because Georges Chakra’s pret a porter collection, EDITION Georges Chakra, was my favorite of the Fall collections in February. It did not disappoint! And it was the longest runway show we’ve seen. Fashion shows usually last about 10 minutes but the Chakra show went on for double that amount of time. Quite the treat.

When the first 12 dresses came down the runway I was a little disheartened because most of them were a shade of beige or caramel. To me, these colours are quite hard to wear and also don’t translate that effectively on a runway. Since neutrals like these seem to be underpinning most of the shows at Fashion Week this season, I thought that beige was going to be the dominant colour palette of the collection. I’m happy to say that I was wrong.

The sea of beige was soon accompanied by brighter neutrals like black and off white. And right after that there was an explosion of colour that looked magical. Turquoise, citron, purple and a spot of tomato red — some of my favorite colours of all time. My very best runway outfit so far at Fashion Week is Chakra’s turquoise ombre gown. I had to catch my breath when it moved down the runway. Simply stunning and the model showed it to perfection. The collection ended with liquid bronze lamé and what looked like a gold brocade. Very fab.

I have NEVER seen garments drape the way Chakra gowns drape. I am totally mesmerized by the quality of the fabrics, the creativity of the design and the skill of the pattern makers and seamstresses. Chakra pieces are total works of art and I appreciate every square millimeter of them.

The intricacy of the designs was also amazing. Such ornate detailing, crisp definition and refined structure. Delicate strands of piping ran through many of the silhouettes as did crystal beading and exposed zippers. Chakra’s dress shapes were contrasting: short and long, form fitting and flouncy, soft and hard, sleeved and sleeveless. This was one the things I liked most about his collection.

Aside from the beige and caramel in the beginning of the show, the other thing that almost put me off the range was the styling of the models’ hair. I found it unflattering and to a certain degree it took away from the beauty of the gowns. After a few minutes I was focused 100% on the clothing though, and it didn’t matter.

The gold show stopper was magnificent and my second favorite runway moment of this trip. Superb, superb, superb drape. If I could make sure that my bust line was locked and loaded in this gown, I’d want to wear it to the next Oscars — you know, the Oscars I go to in my dreams.