Katie Holmes Shows Her Holmes & Yang Line; the Fashion World Reacts

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It’s over: Katie Holmes made her New York Fashion Week debut Wednesday morning, presenting 14 looks from her Holmes & Yang spring 2013 line to a select group of buyers, editors and fashionistas at the Lincoln Center tents. So … what’s the verdict?

“It all looks very much like Katie,” the New York Times‘s fashion writer Eric Wilson Tweeted (Suri’s Burn Book author Allie Hagan subsequently called this one a “burn”).

Women’s Wear Daily had kinder words, writing that the designers “are following in the footsteps of Victoria Beckham and [Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen] of The Row, fashion’s most successful celebrity crossovers above the mass level.” The Los Angeles Times referenced the clothes’ “relaxed L.A. sensibility,” and added, “There’s no reason to think that the line won’t continue to gain momentum.” Vogue U.K. had the kindest words, writing that the looks “packed a lot of punch,” had “smart details,” were “well edited [and] jovial” and that Holmes & Yang seem to be making “attire that is desirable and covetable.”

Additional Tweets were fairly sweet, with InStyle editor Ariel Foxman highlighting one clean black-and-white dress in particular, and Glamour‘s fashion director Anne Christensen calling the separates (and one specific navy moto jacket) simply “great.”

Courtesy Eric Wilson

Other standouts included a dramatic black dress, cute black and blue frocks, red shorts and a camel-colored suede capelet. Bobbi Brown — who recently signed Holmes as her first-ever celebrity spokeswoman — did makeup for the show, while OPI handled nails (using “Samoan Sand” topped with asymmetrical French tips).

Holmes arrived at the tents early, decked out in black slacks, a white blouse, leather jacket, colorful pumps and gold jewels. The designer — who created the line with her stylist, Jeanne Yang — made a couple of adjustments to the models during the presentation, and chatted with a few people in the crowd (which included Smash star Katharine McPhee).

The actress recently told WWD that she and Yang wanted to present their line at Fashion Week “because the brand is growing and expanding … we thought we would have something a little more substantial.”

Courtesy Times Fashion

Showing their clothes Wednesday as a presentation (where models stand still and guests walk around them) as opposed to a standard runway show, Holmes said the method “was more appropriate for the clothes we sell … more of a transition for us from meeting privately with buyers in a hotel room to going right to a big show.”

Regardless of the critics’ opinions, Holmes can take solace in the fact that she felt confident in her designs — and isn’t afraid to fail.

“Who cares?” she told WWD when asked about taking such leaps of faith. “At least you tried. It’s usually the people who haven’t tried who are the naysayers.” Tell us: From these shots, what do you think of the Holmes & Yang collection?

–Kate Hogan

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