February 11, 2010: In snow-filled Mahattan, a steady stream of poshly dressed socialites in rather precarious shoes for the weather could be seen making their way down a darkened alley off of Lafayette. No, this wasn’t some nefarious large-scale-snow-bunny-designer-drug transaction, but the location of the presentation of the newest collection from up-and-coming designer Karolina Zmarlak.

More photos and a video interview after the jump…

The venue itself lent a certain amount of excitement to the affair, held in new East Village hotspot E_P, most notably known for being the location of the the old CBGBs. This being my first visit to the new face of the historical rock landmark, I experienced a pang of nostalgia for the old punk haunt as I made my way downstairs. Where once musical legends vomited and sang, young socialites and artists now sipped champagne, chatting politely. New York City does nothing, if not change.

Reminiscing aside, the location felt like the ideal venue for this new collection by Zmarlak, and up-and-coming young designer whose sense of grace in her designs is equally proportioned with a puckish flair. A former intern at both Theory and Carolina Herrera, Karolina is a Gen Art Styles winner and FIT graduate whose first RTW collection was launched in Fall of 2009. Though very new on the scene, her designs are already generating a significant amount of buzz, and as her new collection continues to show, for very good reason.

Elegant, tight tailoring was present throughout the collection, topped off with quirky and audacious details that lent the outfits a strange and sexy appeal. Though Karolina would later tell me she was inspired by the 1950′s, I personally felt a strong 30′s vibe throughout the clothes, and the aviator-like swim caps worn by the models only made this more so. Amelia Earhart, welcome to 2010…

Though spinning about like a top between photos and mingling, Karolina was kind enough to take a few moments with me in a (slightly more) quiet corner to talk more in detail about her collection:

All in all, a brilliant showing. Keep your eye on this one.

PS: Upon leaving the venue, I came across this little gem in the alley. Is someone missing a unicorn-cash register?

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