Fashion Week Countdown: Playing Koi

It’s Fashion Week Eve, and as the Bryant Park tents prepare to welcome the competitively dressed droves, we bring you the softer, gentler world of Thai-born designer Koi Suwannagate, who showed her fall 2008 collection (pictured above) against a handpainted backdrop that resembled a sunset dreamed up by Mark Rothko. Looking fresh from a forest frolic, the models floated out to the sounds of birds chirping wearing the supersoft handmade garments that are the designer’s trademark, from capelets limned in recycled cashmere rosettes to fluid sheaths accented with hummingbird appliques and embroidery.