New York fashion week: spring 2012 roundup – in pictures

The show for Carolina Herrera's spring 2012 collection at the Lincoln Centre – where Vogue editor Anna Wintour was spotted front-row with US rapper Nicki Minaj (buried somewhere inside a rather eye-catching outfit). Can you guess what the two said to each other? Photograph: Edward Le Poulin/Corbis

DKNY's at 547 West 26th Street paid tribute to the Big Apple itself, handing out posters praising 'to our beloved city ... our Inspiration' Photograph: Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz

'Anna Sui apparently had quite a lot of fun in the 70s and 80s, and hasn't stopped talking about it through her clothes since,' wrote Hadley Freeman. 'Her collection this week was no different, featuring elasticated sparkly belts, dyed marabou shrugs and patterned jumpsuits, often paired with – just to get a little more retro – 1940s-style tea dresses. It was all just as pretty and girly as Anna Sui always is, but decidedly deja vu' Photograph: Eric Thayer/Reuters

Derek Lam's collection. 'Architecture is a hot reference among the inner circle of Anna Wintour's favoured designers,' according to Jess Cartney-Morley. 'Richard Neutra's angular, mid-century desert modernist houses in California are in favour with Derek Lam, while Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have been looking at the classic Googie aesthetic of the 1950s' Photograph: Rex Features

Speculation was rife that Marc Jacobs, whose collection is shown above, is set to replace John Galliano at Dior. Meanwhile, we sent Jason Lloyd-Evans backstage at the Marc by Marc Jacobs secondary line show to take a few impromptu snaps Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

Hadley wasn't a fan of Michael Kors's Lincoln Centre show, which 'took the eternally popular and eternally misguided theme of "safari", looking like something designed solely for a magazine fashion shoot in Africa, probably starring Angelina Jolie lounging decorously on a designer handbag while gazing soulfully at some noble tribesmen' Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

Ralph Lauren revisited the flapper era at Skylight Studio with an array of 'sorbet-coloured silk blouses and flowing palazzo trousers, pastel three-piece women's suits and – most elegantly of all – pale chiffon, crepe and georgette dresses all cut on the bias, ending on the knee or going full length,' wrote Hadley
Photograph: Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz

The Victoria Beckham spring collection impressed us, with Jess Cartner-Morley and Carlene Thomas-Bailey writing that it 'marked a gear change for Beckham's feted second career as a designer. Figure-flattering, modern-ladylike, cleverly constructed dresses have been the heart of her brand since her first collection, and were still there – but the focus was pulled back to include a wider range of looks: oversized parka-style jackets, looser pieces, and utility detailing' Photograph: Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images

Likewise her 'even better' – and more affordable – secondary line, Victoria by Victoria Beckham. Hadley was impressed, writing that it was 'definitely a change from the body-clinging dresses with which most people associate Beckham. Instead, the emphasis was on loose, crepe, satin, jacquard and something called "summer wool" shifts that barely skimmed the body, some in rich colours such as Kelly green and deep blue, and some spattered with sweet cartoonish prints, a look heretofore verboten in the Beckham wardrobe' Photograph: PR