Held at The Studio at Lincoln Center, Zang Toi’s Fall 2012 Runway, “Glamour at GSTAAD,” showcases luxurious fabrics and fine tailoring. Can you say “white for winter?”  The collection started out in white and had long coats for men, cocktail dresses with fur etching, wide-legged pants, sweaters and coats with silver rhinestones.  Then the blacks and greys made their entrance with the classic black suit dress.  What followed?  Fitted cocktail sleeveless dresses, and grey wool suit pants with fur appliqués on the sleeves—each made an unforgettable impression.

Zang Toi has impressed me as a designer with a clear vision.  I remember my first time seeing his work back in 2010.  I was wowed by the seemingly elegantly styled clothes fit for a First Lady.  His lines have always been clean; his choice of fabrics have always been top notch, except for the following season in 2011, when his vision went slightly awry as he tributed his collection to the 1956 Oscar-winning film, Giant.  (I’m sorry to say that I still remember it as I was wedged between two New York judges, whose first and only runway show was Zang Toi.  Maybe the vision wasn’t so clear back then.)

Zang Toi’s styling team is consistent, however.  The models were styled as sophisticated businesswomen with big bank accounts.  Their hair was worn in curly updos, their faces had clean makeup, red lips, no smokey eye—more the socialite and debutante less the Hollywood glamour vixen type.

On his runway, Toi introduced the cape effect on a velvet coat and pants and a long black coat with a velvet collar.  The color palette changed to the “red” trend (as seen on every runway this season).  His red baby doll gown with feathers and his beautiful red satin gown with cape and train and oriental accents were my favorite pieces in this collection.  Leave it to Zang Toi to have a man’s tuxedo in velvet and a maxi robe with red silk patterns as one of the final pieces.  Flamboyant?  Maybe.  But a focused vision that nobody can argue.  Zang Toi is distinctly Zang Toi.  I don’t think anyone or anything could ever sway him from his inspirations.

Click the image below to see Zang Toi’s “Glamour at GSTAAD” Fall 2012 Runway, photographed by Arun Nevader. (Not viewable on I.E.)