Hervé Leger’s Power and Femininity at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York

Nandini D’Souza Wolfe at Style.com wrote that, following the Hervé Léger show at Fashion Week New York, designer Lubov Azria talked behind the scenes about strong women. And that is whom Hervé Peugnet—the French couturier behind design house Hervé Léger—seems to have designed this latest collection for.

Peugnet, Lubov and Max Azria reportedly channeled the spirit of Japan's onna-bugeisha, the ancient class of skilled female martial artists who fought in toe-to-toe with samurai, for this spring/summer season. The collection conjured visions of romantic, sweeping kimonos juxtaposed against foreign military garb.

The tops at the start of the show put a modern spin on traditional Japanese prints. The kimono sleeves, hip flares and obi-like buckle-less chunky belts rounded out the geisha-style imagery. Peugnet and the Azria repackaged their iconic body-con dress once again for this season, interweaving the warrior woman concept with feminine but powerful dresses through small, angular folds of cloth, thus slightly relaxing the dresses’s body-con silhouette. Aside from the standard springtime blush and nude pieces, the color palette drew from the hues of traditional Japanese art: reds, yellows, blues, shades of black and tints of white.

The body-con theme continued as the show went on, leaving the onna-bugeisha trope behind in favor of more classic Léger designs. Some flourishes were new: The designs used sequins and metallic beads to illuminate the intricate geometry these designers do so well, yet also engendered a strong sense of déjà vu.