Behnaz Sarafpour: Dark and Ladylike in Rubber Lace and Icy Hues

It was an icy atmosphere at the presentation of Behnaz Sarafpour's fall 2011 collection. Celebrating her tenth year, the designer kept things both classic and current, showing off excellent details like superior lace and knit techniques; choice, winter-heavy fabrics and wearable, feminine silhouettes.

Models took on alternatively coquettish and statuesque personas on their white pyramid, playing up the body-conscious appeal of tightly tailored cropped trousers as part of a nubby, black-and-white-weave wool suit or the exaggerated flounce on a party skirt trimmed in what looks like plain lace, but is constructed from finely woven strands of rubber.

At the center of the collection stood its only hint of color -- albeit a steely, barely blue hue -- in a twinkling column gown whose wearer, remarked our fashion week neophyte companion, appeared to be the ice queen in command of the situation. Indeed, it was more grown-up look than the rest, whose still-sophisticated ensembles veered from the line with a dropped hem on an LBD, a luxe coat with subtle sheen and a bubble hem, tough black leather or a sequins on a maxi skirt.

Accessories were both opulent (oversize fur hats like the downy wife of a shapka, if you will) and slightly dominatrix-like cage shoes by Manolo Blahnik -- rather like the sartorial exploration of all the vices of a polished, well-dressed woman.

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