Things get hairy at Dennis Basso
Going into a Dennis Basso show, you realize that there will be fur coats, and lots of them. Basso got his start selling pelts out of his car in the 1980s. And his show at Lincoln Center was absolutely filled with furs from all animals, there was Russian sable in smoke, khaki and graphite; lynx, kidassia, fox, broadtail and chinchilla. There was even crocodile and coyote. Johnny Weir was practically salivating over all that fur. But aside from the furs, what Basso sent down the runway was dull. As much as it pains me to say, because Basso is such a genial gentleman and a joy to watch on QVC. But I ran out of adjectives for tan and brown in my notebook. After jotting down "chestnut bisque" to describe the color of a chunky cableknit sweater dress, I pretty much gave up and wrote "yawn" instead. The collection was based on gentleman's haberdashery (androgyny trend alert!), and his sweaters were lovely, particularly the embroidered turtleneck dress with textured petaled skirt, but it never felt like his clothes went beyond things to wear under fur coats.
Contributors
Hayley Kaufman is editor of the Style section.
Rachel Raczka (@rachelraczka) is the lifestyle producer for Boston.com.
