NYFW: JoAnn Berman's Spring 2011 Electric Ikats

If you had to slow designer JoAnn Berman down frame by frame, the sequence might look something like this, at least texturally. Don't be fooled though, these designs are not for the lazy or unimaginative fashionista. These looks are going places, here and now.

"JoJo" boldly revved up the runway at The GreenShows on Monday afternoon right around that time when most editors and fashion week attendees are beginning to experience an excruciating low blood sugar plunge. Maybe it was the hip, retro-recycled get-ups or the electric ikat prints (all generated in a low-impact but creatively explosive manner), that kept the audience perky and alert? Whatever the method, it is evident that JoAnn Berman is more than grounded with her latest Spring 2011 collection. The designer has created the illusion of easy to don flights of fancy in a cool and empowering mix-and-match manner. Mod never looked to alchemically chic.

I have spoken to JoAnn a few times on the phone, and each time she is contagiously enthusiastic about everything that comes her way. Sure she has a unique street style cultivated by decades of living the life punk-tastic, but if ever there was a woman who gets what might bridge the last few decades of our globally gritty existence with the next chapter of sustainable fashion, it would be the very resourceful Berman.

This was a genuinely inspired collection and one that transported us to Goa, Ghana, and the Gowanus, all in one brushstroke of what is JoAnn Berman, the artist, the musician, and the fashion designer. We could not be giddier when cool people take us along for the ride that promises fashion magic for all.


*all photos taken by Nina Berman for JoAnn Berman