New York fashion week opens

Fashion forecasters predicted a chilly fall as New York Fashion Week opened Friday with a blizzard of buttoned-up looks on the runway.

Photo: New York fashion week opens

While style is a consideration for the designers presenting their collections during the eight-day event, practicality is not. That might explain the sexy _ and quite attractive _ banded stiletto sandals that Kenneth Cole paired with turtlenecks and trench coats to kick off the new style season.

Among the highlights:

Kenneth Cole: Cole set the stage for an office romance, dressing women in refined dresses, wool skirt suits and high-neck tie blouses and men in cashmere sweaters, sportcoats and tailored trousers in varying shades of gray and brown.

The women's clothes hugged in the right places and flowed in others to be just suggestive enough to keep them from morphing into a 1970s typing-pool look. The men showed a little flair with their chunky sweaters and thick scarves.

Standout outfits for women included a cardigan jacket with an oversized collar in dark gray cashmere worn with a merino wool pencil skirt; a lighter gray wool wrap jacket with a band around the front of the waist worn with a slim wool pant; a simple and sophisticated cocoa-colored cashmere turtleneck dress; and a caramel shearling belted coat with a high collar.

For men, a dark gray cardigan with a white-and-gray striped shirt, brown silk dot tie and moleskin flat-front pants was among the best looks. Most of Cole's pants, for both men and women, tended to have skinny legs and waistbands actually on the waist, reports AP.

O.Ch.