Mineral colors, that is. "I opened up and let much more color into the collection," said the designer, who often sticks to sleek black and white, in a backstage interview. "There are great mineral tones, of sulphur, chrome, aluminum, granite, onyx."

That onyx color showed up early on, in a lush cashmere handknit sweater and wrap scarf. Sulphur appeared in a "crushed paper" silk dress, and in a darker suede dress. The granite color graced a cashmere handknit sweater, paired with a silk skirt and top.

Another change for Rodriguez: the textures. "I found and developed very beautiful cashmere techniques, pleated fabrics, and distressed fabrics," he said. "I'd never worked with them before. They're traditional fabric techniques that were then converted into modern fabric. I left them unlined and a bit deconstructed."

Rodriguez has a loyal celebrity clientele, and sitting in the front row Tuesday night was actress Claire Danes, who said her TV shooting schedule for "Homeland" had prevented her from attending many of his shows in the past.

"I am a fan and a friend of Narciso's and I haven't been home for a really long time," Danes said. "So finally I get to show up. And yeah, his work is wonderful and I just want to support him. I feel most myself when I wear his clothes."

Backstage, Rodriguez was philosophical about the idea of "fast fashion," meaning designers having garments ready for sale right after they're shown on the runway, rather than months later.

"I think everything's too fast," Rodriguez said. "People lose sight of the fact that for a true designer, they need to create a very special very unique thing, whether it's luxurious or at any price point, to create things that are desirable. And whether you show them and ship them today or in a few months, if you create something that's very good someone will make it a part of their lives."

"And for me that's always a big part of the design process, how do you seduce a woman, how do you excite her about buying new things and get excited aboutfashion" he said. "And how do you keep her intrigued enough that when she saw it on the runway and bought it X amount of time later, and then in two years or 10 years still has the same feeling (about it), that's a great thing. I love things like that, that I've made a commitment to."

-Jocelyn Noveck and Nicole Evatt

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SOPHOMORE SEASON FOR DKNY'S DESIGNERS

Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne are two pretty happy guys.

The Public School founders unveiled their sophomore season as creative directors of DKNY after two fashion-week rounds for their own brand. And they had some fun.

The two used bright red shoe laces for lace-up detailing worthy of a '90s club on red and black satin skirts and dresses. They rocked out a nice red plaid for dresses, coats and jackets, and they warned the world: "Don't Knock New York" on a black sweatshirt as they played with messaging like their predecessor and mentor Donna Karan did years before them.

One of their outfits included: "Insert Logo Here."

So how does it feel to have all that behind them?

"Yeah the pressure's a bit off," Osborne said in a post-show interview of their second DKNY collection. "We had to get the first show out of the way for us to feel comfortable, get situated, feel everything out."

As they did the first time, they turned men's suiting into something else, cropping pinstripes for jackets, jumpsuits, shorts and trousers. They hung some oversized looks on straps with tails that fluttered down the runway. And they took "puffer" to a new level in jumpsuits and monstrous scarves some models wrangled as they walked.

The two felt loose, figuratively and literally, having in their minds the sexy tomboy bands of the '90s, along with their own New York City childhoods of the same era, especially in the heavy rubber-souled boots in black and brown that likely made their models just as happy as the designers.

"We wanted to play with those ideas of reappropriation that we had back in the 90s, of taking things that didn't necessarily belong to us or maybe fit in a city landscape. We wanted to inject that back into the collection," Chow said.

So about that one sweatshirt: Are people knocking New York?

"All the time," Osborne said.

"They do it all the time," Chow agreed.

-Leanne Italie