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Women Get Edgy in Leather for Fashion Week

By  Della Hasselle and Serena Solomon | September 11, 2012 7:31am 

LINCOLN SQUARE — As the first hint of cool weather hit Lincoln Center during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, so did the edgy trends of Fall — in the form of the season's hottest leather.

Fashion-forward women hit the tents donned in both the real deal and Pleather look-alikes, wearing the slick fabrics in the forms of teeny-tiny skirts, full-length dresses and the kind of spiky accessories fit for rock stars.

"I love my edgy, my leather accessories. I love the spikes — it's very bold, it's very in right now," said Larissa Muehleder, a designer who created her own full-length spiked leather outfit for Fashion Week.

"It's very daring, and that brings out the rocker chick look in females. That's what I'm going for right now."

Muehleder came dressed in black spiked leather leggings and a form-fitting dress with spikes on the bust — an outfit that she says was head-turning, but painful for those who got too close.

Not that she felt that the empowerment was a bad thing.

"I definitely feel like leather is pro-women," she said. "It makes you look edgy and feminine, but also in a masculine way."

Other trends she had seen were more feminine leather leggings, skirts, jackets and purses.

Anna Koopmann, from Germany,  said she wore leather because she loved the freedom she felt wearing it.

"I always try to combine different materials, like lace and leather, because I'm not a romantic person, I'm not a princess," Koopmann said, wearing a short leather skirt with a shiny silver shirt, tucked in.

"I'm a woman and I like to be edgy, like an edgy princess."

Dublin-based blogger Molly McKeever, who wore a short leather skirt from Forever 21 with a cropped top, also said her favorite thing about the trend was its versatility.

"It goes with everything, so it's perfect," she said.

"Leather — I love it. It used to be only boots and jackets, now it's everything.

"It's not too fitted, It kind of clings in the right way and it's good to mix with other materials."

Farhani Kahn, from Orlando, agreed.

"Leather's in because it's super chic," she said, adding that she thought the trends were a nod to Madonna and other styles of the 80s and 90s.

For Stephanie Cole, who works in security, the leather was like armor.

"It makes me feel like a rocker," she said.

"It's like you could be wearing anything, anything at all, and then you throw a leather jacket over the top of that and it kind of completes the look and makes you feel like you could take over the world."