We're days into  New York Fashion Week AW16 and certain themes are beginning to become a clear. From the trending colours to the Insta-girls of the season, here are the talking points we took away from Day 4.

1) A pink coat to lift your mood

New York, in the throes of a deep freeze on Valentine’s Day, is a sea of cranky people dressed in black and grey. So an enormous, cheery, pink faux-fur jacket like the one head of women's design Somsack Sikhounmuong showed at J.Crew seems to be just what the world needs. 

We’ve been so busy longing for warm weather as we battle winter blues that we forgot the curative power of putting on a springy pastel or floral – until now. Wear with a smile.
- Kenya Hunt, Fashion Features Director
 

2) The new camel?


There is usually a colour of the season that triumphantly comes out on top at the end of the shows and, while it’s a little early to tell just yet who the forerunners are, we have seen a lot of variations on tan. Caramel, light beige and richer shades of tobacco have all cropped up, with one of the best examples found at Edun in the form of a bomber jacket and relaxed trouser two-piece in a delightfully slouchy jumbo cord. Call it an update on last season’s camel, and grab yourself a slice of it now.
- Harriet Stewart, Market & Retail Editor
 

3) DVF’s #squadgoals

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It was like a Taylor Swift video come to life, but with better clothes. There they all were: Karlie, Kendall, Gigi, Jourdan, Lily, Lineisy and more, dancing and laughing in Diane von Furstenberg’s classic wrap dresses to disco music – as you do – on stage in the designer’s headquarters, as a wall of showgoers wielding camera phones documented it all for social media. It was easily the day’s biggest Instagram win. But the most important talking point from the show was the fact that a few of the dresses in the collection were being made available for purchase immediately, putting Diane von Furstenberg at the forefront of fashion’s much talked about direct-to-consumer revolution. As head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Diane has been working to fix the broken fashion system. ‘We need to evaluate it. I can’t decide for everybody, but I can at least give the designers the information they need to figure out what is best for themselves,’ she explained in an interview before the show. How a see-now-buy-now fashion week will work logistically remains to be seen, but with the number of designers who are committing to the idea growing with each day (so far it includes Michael Kors, Burberry, Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger and Rebecca Minkoff), there’s no doubt that a sweeping change is most definitely coming.
- Kenya Hunt, Fashion Features Director
 
 

4) Black is the new black

There’s a very subtle strain of dark, at times post-apocalyptic, gothic sensibilities running through a smattering of shows here in New York.

Dark clothes to survive turbulent, cold times and all that. We saw hints of it at Alexander Wang and Fenty x Puma, and later Public School and Hood by Air.

At Opening Ceremony, it surfaced by way of a Blade Runner-inspired theme in a series of slick, futuristic looks made up of anoraks, belted jackets and crisp dresses that opened the show.

The common thread through all of these examples was black, which has always been fashion’s favourite ‘neutral’. But this season it comes with a harder, more kickass edge: think leather with hints of hardware mixed in to drive the point home.
- Kenya Hunt, Fashion Features Director
 
 

5) Prabal Gurung’s winter whites and undone buttons

Nothing spells out luxury like head-to-toe winter white. And the first two looks at Prabal Gurung  – a white duffle coat and lace turtleneck dress followed by a beautiful oversized cashmere sweater and lace skirt combo – felt chic for the Upper Eastside woman, but I'm not sure it felt modern.

Gurung did play with the subtle art of undressing to great success by using tiny fabric covered buttons, which were artfully undone to make side splits showing bare skin at the midriff, below the neckline and on the side seam of white trousers. This was a lovely detail and felt very relaxed and effortless – and pushed his classic shapes to a more sensual place.
- Michelle Duguid, Senior Fashion Editor

Images: GETTY

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