Ecco Domani winner Richard Chai has worked for Marc Jacobs and designed for Tse, and his second collection of just 30 pieces shown at the tents in Bryant Park was beautiful, innovative and original. Far less minimalistic than last season's, fall was a testament to artistic vision, obvious designing skills and replete with intricate details (peplums, origami insets, quilting, padding, satin contrast), the jackets were fantastic, sweaters were beautiful, skirts (which were generally on the long side, and marked by volume, cartridge pleats, godets, and arc insets) were highly individual, and the coats (often done in thick cotton moleskin with exaggerated cuffs) were terrific.

Marked by a chic, subtle and pared down neutral color palette of ivory, navy, eggplant, and brown, in Richard's hand, even a strong color like royal blue -- generally difficult to use -- looked fabulous. He is definitely someone to watch. Among the standout pieces were the ivory cashmere/angora/wool flared jacket with satin contrast worn with matching skirt; an oatmeal boiled wool cut edge jacket and zip front skirt worn with an origami belt; the beautifully fitted bottle green moleskin coat with exaggerated cuffs, belted with an ivory satin origami belt and worn over an ivory silk jersey top and eggplant wool and silk wrap skirt; an ivory wool jacket with satin godet details; and the ivory collage gowns at the end.