NYFW: Alexander Wang SS 2012

Athletic chic is one of the week’s early trends for the SS 2012 collections thus far, but for Alexander Wang it’s basically encoded into his tough-girl, street-wear, I’m the s*%t DNA. This time around, the designer felt a need for speed, taking inspiration from a full buffet of velocity—NASCAR, BMX, motocross; he even claimed to have mined a sneaker factory for fabrics.

His collection was a jam-packed journey beginning with great dark laser-cut mesh bombers that revealed a dot matrix of bright polos layered beneath. Later followed by nylon cargo couture florals (peplums and pockets!), sexy race-car instarsia knits, and little body-con lasered leather minidresses. There’s a real cleverness to the way Wang develops something like a fascination with mesh from the real deal into the grommets on a coat and a trompe l’oeil print on the sleeve of a cropped floral hoodie. And those tribal-looking motifs on the sheer jerseys that closed the show? Stadium seating maps. Life in the fast lane for Wang isn’t just a saying, it’s more of his lifestyle.