Fashion Ticker: Thakoon, Isaac Mizrahi, and Thuy

Hip-hop star Kanye West — who has been nicknamed the "Louis Vuitton Don" because of his penchant for the luxury brand — turned up at the Thakoon show yesterday, perhaps in search of another fashion muse. And there was much to be inspired by. The label's namesake and designer, Thakoon Panichgul, served up seduction and sheer elegance — with an emphasis on sheer. Several fitted dresses in black and ivory featured a crisscrossing fabric that had the effect of appearing to strap in the frock underneath. Mr. Panichgul's exceptional attention to craft was also in evidence in a series of sequin and chiffon open-back dresses in both smokey and flesh tones. The boudoir sensibility extended with cheeky knickers and bras made from a series of creative prints with repeated kisses, black roses, and fluttering eyelashes.

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A model walks the runway during the Thakoon Spring 2009 fashion week show.

For Isaac Mizrahi's spring 2009 collection, the designer turned his focus to entomology. The show was dominated by formal wear, with a few dressed-up separates such as metallic knee-length pants or "trouserettes" paired with shrunken jackets that winged out in the back. Wasps, crickets, spiders, and beetles were referenced directly and abstracted into geometric details. Some gauzy cocktail dresses and skirts were made from prints that evoked a swarm of multi-legged creatures smashed up against a glass. One particularly well-done, if extreme, look mirrored the protective headgear worn by beekeepers in a floor-grazing dress. If some of the brightly colored looks were not necessarily practical with their antennae-like panels and protruding flaps, they functioned, at least, as art.

Minutes before the Thuy show began Sunday night, an assistant designer was crouched on the floor backstage at Bryant Park sewing small pearly buttons onto the back of a gown. Still, the label's designer Thuy Diep, appeared calm and, most of all, excited for her debut at the tents. The 1920s inspired wardrobe had one ankle boot planted in pre-war Britain and the other firmly in the 21st century.

"We're beginning to be known for our coats," Ms. Diep told The New York Sun in the week before her show. One can see why. The belted trench coats and coatdresses were among the highlights of this romantic collection. They were only enhanced by a bold palette of neon yellows, oranges, and greens, tempered by black and pencil skirts with lacy ivory details. — Rebecca Thomas