Health Literacy

Project Runway Alumni:

By Virginia Nam, NYC Contributor

Althea Harper has come a long way since her Project Runway days. The Season 6 finalist showcased her Fall 2010 collection at the Sundaram Tagore Gallery in Chelsea this week, during the 2010 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.

Harper has made several impressive career leaps recently by designing for Tory Burch, Zac Posen, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, to whom she dedicated her show.

Harper’s fall collection, which was a crossover between futuristic and sporty, consisted largely of paneled and mesh-pieced dresses, which were quite provocative but artfully designed. It’s been clear since Project Runway that Harper has a good eye for cutting clothes in a way that visually sculpts a woman’s body to accentuate all the right places — something Heidi Klum has called “tricks.”

Harper also offered tea-length knit dresses, which were more streamlined and minimalistic, almost conservative with the high necklines and long sleeves. The stand-out among these pieces was a crimson dress, which offered a refreshing departure from the neutral palette of the rest of her collection.

While Harper featured mostly dresses, her strengths were the menswear-inspired pant suits. Favorites included a black blazer with leather paneling and a beige tailored blazer.

Her paneled leggings in a “metropolis” print was another great piece that appeared in several looks. It was clear that Harper aimed for a serious, urban vibe in her collection, and these leggings conveyed that quite literally.

Harper has shown that she has an eye for design befitting edgy New Yorkers. This collection was a step forward in the right direction.

Virginia Nam is a fashion blogger from the NYC metro area. She blogs at Lovely20s.com where she covers the tumultuous but incredibly fun lifestyle of the NYC 20-something.

All above photos courtesy of Randolph Sauer.

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