The Associated Press is all over New York Fashion Week, from the runway designs to the celebrity-filled front rows. Here are some recent highlights:

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A MEDITATION ON CONTROL AND RELEASE, AT PROENZA SCHOULER

It was fitting in more than one way that Proenza Schouler managed to secure the venue of venues - the newly reopened, downtown Whitney Museum of American Art - for their fashion show Wednesday night.

First, the designing duo - Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough - cite artist Frank Stella as one of the influences on their new collection, and the Whitney's exhibit of Stella's work just closed. In fact, the fashion show was held in the same beautiful room overlooking the Hudson River.

And second, each Proenza Schouler garment arguably resembles a Stella artwork - with colorful layers constructed together in ingenious ways.

The designers presented a runway show that was a meditation on control and release. The control was at the top of the body - with laces and knots and tight-fitting tops.

"And then it all falls into kind of a slouchier silhouette," McCollough said backstage. "The trousers are big, and the shoes are a bit lower, for a woman to be able to walk fast, with freedom and confidence."

Beyond the concept of control and release, the idea of process and materials was key, and it harked back to American art of the '60s and '70s.

"It's about the process, not the outcome," McCollough said.

Regardless, the outcome seemed pretty pleasing to the crowd, which included actress Liv Tyler. Especially appealing were figure-hugging knit dresses that appeared to display control, with their shape, and release, with their softness, at the same time.

-Jocelyn Noveck

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MARCHESA, INSPIRED BY SARGENT'S PORTRAITS

Many designers get inspiration for their fashion collections from the art world. This season, Marchesa designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig chose the art of famed American portrait painter John Singer Sargent, who died in 1925, to inspire their always sumptuous, red-carpet ready designs.

"Each girl is going to feel like her own portrait ... so we have different characters weaving through the collection," Chapman said in a backstage interview. "But they all tie together, they are all glamorous, ethereal, a Marchesa woman."

Specifically, the designers were aiming at capturing "the ultra-feminine strength " of the women that Sargent painted, and as always, the dresses and gowns were nothing if not ultra-feminine.

There were sleek, fitted silhouettes as well as princess-style gowns. There was lots of lace and intricate beading, of course, and brocades and silk flowers.

There were, as the designers described them, "pops of color," for example a dramatic red-to-black ombre tulle ballgown with a tiered skirt and laser-cut organza flowers. There were more casual cocktail dresses too, such as an amethyst-to-lilac ombre fringe dress with floral beading.

On the more fairy-tale side of things, there were a few dresses in filmy pastel tulle, such as a duck egg tulle Grecian gown with billowing sleeves.

Besides the ornate beading, the designers made use of feathers, too, as in a dusty blue ostrich feather cocktail dress with an organza sash.

With the Oscars coming up soon, the designers have yet to find out if their designs will make their way to the red carpet. "We hope!" they both said in unison.

-Gina Abdy and Jocelyn Noveck

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A FEATHER FEST AT MICHAEL KORS

If you had to pick one adjective to sum up Michael Kors' latest collection, a good bet might be "feathery."

The designer was going for "the flirty freedom of things that move," to quote his production notes, and there were flirty feathers on at least 10 of the looks he sent down the runway - starting with feathers adorning a pair of jeans, and moving to feathers on a houndstooth tweed coat, on a denim or tweed skirt, and on black silk for ultimate evening effect.

There were also plenty of sequins, adding a very bright sheen to some of thefashions, especially a silver sequin embroidered "streamer" dress, with the hem cut into strips that indeed looked like streamers, and also a pair of seriously glistening silver metallic stretch tulle pants.

Kors always has a healthy celebrity contingent at his fashion shows, and Wednesday's event was no exception: Blake Lively and Jennifer Hudson were among the front-row guests. They were there to witness an anniversary of sorts for Kors.

"I'm not one for anniversaries and I'm really not a big kind of looking-over-my-shoulder kind of guy," Kors said in a backstage interview. "But when I started designing this I realized, oh my God, this is my 35th fall collection. That's crazy!"

Kors added that as he reflected on the milestone, he realized the most important thing was to keep his fashion fun.

"I wanted this to be full of fun and charm," he said. "So it's very flirty, short, leggy, not a gown in sight. All the rules are broken because stylish people break the rules ... The seasons are crazy anyway. So when the weather's terrible, don't you want to put on a fabulous apple green coat to change your spirits? Don't you want to wear tweed with flowers? Don't you want to put feathers on flannel? Wear flats at night? Wear metallic for a day?"

Lively had brought her mom along, a former model who, the actress said, used to make clothes for her kids when they were growing up.

"It's so nice," she said of attending a Kors show as a fan. "You sort of like high-five everyone when a great piece comes out, which is often. I'm excited to go hug him backstage afterward."

-Jocelyn Noveck and Nicole Evatt

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NATURE AND FRITZ LANG'S FUTURE AT DELPOZO

Delpozo creative director Josep Font is nothing if not a romantic, even when he's honoring the lady robot of Fritz Lang's 1927 classic film "Metropolis."

But wait. There's more to this Spaniard's fall/winter collection. Blended with his severe geometry and his cool metallics of silver, gold and bronze is the powerful strength in nature of digital illustrator Daria Petrilli, in tiny-waisted Victorian coats and beautifully sequined evening gloves in riots of three-dimensional flowers.

Both Lang and Petrilli are more than a little evident in the details. The Madrid-based brand is known for volume, which Font said in an interview poses a slight challenge in the United States. Not everybody will be drawn to his huge bows at the neck and overly rounded shapes.

But here, he used volume daintily in spots. Some dresses had large block leaf motifs in fabrics that offer the same soft but structured curves as the scuba material so popular on runways in years past.

Font also speaks fluently in pleats, putting a soft version on a long tulle train on a finale gown in black, and razor-sharp pleats elsewhere, including a skirt where they stand on their own at the waist.

He carried flora and fauna detailing into embroidery, putting delicate orange stems on black evening looks. One of his appliques came in red leather squares and rectangles.

Font is a humble romantic, declaring in his spare English the outdoors as a major love.

"All weekends I am going to the country," he said. "I love my garden to connect with nature."

-Leanne Italie