Altuzarra: Stoking the Engine - NYTimes.com Before the start of Joseph Altuzarra's show, at Industria Superstudio, the buzz was all about the front row - Kate Bosworth, Mamie Gummer, Jessica Chastain and Tyson Chandler, the Knicks center, who hit several shows on Saturday. But within minutes, attention shifted to the clothes - and the fantastically loopy boots - as editors began raving on Twitter. Like a number of designers this season, Mr. Altuzarra has taken a fancy to pencil-striped cotton, men's shirting and work wear classics like a railroad engineer's jacket. And like other designers, he is obviously interested in lightness. But the difference was the imaginative way he dealt with all these elements. "Women always tell me, 'Why can't spring clothes be more like fall' - layered but at the same time light," Mr. Altuzarra said backstage. The standout pieces included slim-fitting linen skirts in a blue antique floral print that were combined with French blue cotton shirts embroidered with clear stones, and topped with roomy gray-blue striped jackets. The striped jackets made you think of OshKosh overalls, and were finished with brown leather buckled straps at the neck and a discreet bit of Altuzarra branding on a small cotton patch. It was great to see a version of polished day clothes that didn't look fussy, and were, in fact, super light. Most of the fabrics, Mr. Altuzarra said, are from Japan. He also used the Japanese trick (from Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo) of putting hidden vents at the sides of jackets and coats so you could slip the garment on as a cape - another lightening effect. He said that the film "Orlando" was inspiration, in the melding of feminine and masculine references, in the fantasy of the gold-fringed knitwear and embroidered evening pieces. All of these elements were beguiling, but the day clothes - a super-sharp black trench coat, the variety of striped cotton jackets, the surprise of the crystal-embellished men's shirts - pumped much-needed energy into the New York shows.