SO’s photog Luca Khouri — whose impeccable sartorial choices are making their own style statements at NYFW — trained his lens at last week’s Alice + Olivia collection, capturing designer Stacey Bendet’s “preppy-meets-pretty” aesthetic.

(Photos: Luca Khouri)

It’s funny that Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet started the brand in 2002 based on a pair of great-fitting pants, because these days the line is best known for girly cocktail dresses. Those prom-y looks were again at the centre of things for spring, but this time they were given some more athletic touches. “It’s preppy meets pretty,” said Bendet, in the midst of her always jam-packed presentation.

When Bendet delivered on that idea, the collection worked. A bone-white piqué polo, for instance, was paired with a colour-blocked cream, black, and red cotton ball gown skirt, which was a fun take on the theme. A standout was an aqua silk crop top worn with a tea-length aqua leather pleated skirt — the outfit would have looked just as good worn with a pair of slip-on white Vans as it did with silver pointy-toe heels.

Alice + Olivia is totally commercial, and Bendet is totally OK with that: “It’s contemporary, you know?” she said. And even though an embellished jacket felt uninspired — especially paired with ripped-up rocker jeans — it might sell well. A better use of embellishment was on a sparkly silver bustier, worn with a cropped white tuxedo blazer and white leather pleated skirt. It was, indeed, both preppy and pretty.

— Lauren Sherman, www.style.com