Oscar de la Renta's Voluminous, Embellished, Gorgeous Spring 2012

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Last night's Oscar de la Renta show opened in dramatic fashion, with models swooping down the narrow runway—in a raw venue overlooking Bryant Park (oh fashion week memories)—in light-as-air parachute skirts that grazed the legs of guests in the front row.

Spotted at the show: boldfacers including Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj (who seems to get seated right next to Anna Wintour everywhere she goes this season), Barbara Walters, Daphne Guinness, and Valentino.

De La Renta's spring 2012 season features all his classic, signature silhouettes: the perfectly tailored fitted-and-flared dress, the smart ladies' afternoon skirt suit, the figure-flattering wide-leg trouser, as well as plenty of De La Renta color-pops—chartreuse, lemon yellow, bold lipstick red. Of note: the white crochet suit, which was gorgeous and prim and so very special, and the fantastic stripe print—we love stripes, but are so tired of stripes after this very stripey summer, and somehow De La Renta's mottled stripes are the perfect non-stripe stripe, so we can't wait to see them next year.

It's the voluminousness of the eveningwear and the wildness of De La Renta's new ideas and experimentation with ornamentation—pushing the boundaries at Oscar!—that wowed the crowd. The enormous, bold, yet light-as-air skirts and dresses. The tousled-and-wrapped stylings of the creme tulle gown (see main image, below), the dramatic ostrich feather evening dresses, the harem pants (harem pants!!), and the enormous-sleeved embroidered gowns that look like they came straight out of an 19th-century period drama were sights to behold—especially when strutting down the runway to a thumping rock soundtrack.

Check out our video of the finale walk, here:

And 18 of our favorite looks from the show:

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· Oscar de la Renta [Official Site]
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