The recent opening of her Madison Avenue flagship has already had an impact on Devi Kroell's designs. "The great thing about the store is you get immediate feedback as to what the customer likes or wants," she said. Her tweed pieces have been big sellers so far—Kroell creates the fabrics with an esteemed mill in England—so for pre-fall she whipped up a great pair of cropped trousers and a standout oversize coat in the stuff. Other pieces, like washed duchesse silk pants, lightweight textured knits, and buttery leather pants, are just as luxe, but comfort is key. As for what else the customers are liking? Eveningwear. Kroell's elegantly draped jewel-tone gowns could very well be the new buzz come awards season. —Romney Leader

In her continued quest to reinvent the Scottish knitwear label Pringle, creative director Clare Waight Keller has been looking for ways to modernize its heritage argyle pattern. "I wanted to break up the design and make it more abstract," she said at today's pre-fall presentation. A cozy fringed cashmere cardigan featured the classic diamond pattern loosely looped across the back, while a colorful intarsia sweater dress turned the familiar design into something resembling an eighties video-game print. In other experiments with knitwear, Waight Keller treated a felted wool so that it dissolved into a sort of geometric cobweb, which she then developed into little dresses and skirts. But there was other news, too: A pleated leather kilt and smart double-collar jackets rounded out this collection of luxe basics with a twist. —Romney Leader

Many designers approach pre-fall as a collection of seasonless, buy-now-wear-now pieces, but others are using it as an opportunity for experimentation. Doo-Ri Chung belongs in the latter category. "I wanted to hash out ideas here to see what will work for Fall," she explained. In less capable hands, that could have meant a mixed bag of trends, but Chung wisely focused her efforts on prints. Brushstroke designs were digitalized to the point of abstraction on sweet cocktail dresses and miniskirts, and a cropped double-faced cotton jacket featured a delicate floral screen print. In short: If there weren't any radical silhouette changes, there were just enough special details to keep things fresh and interesting. —Romney Leader

Jason Wu reported at his pre-fall presentation that sales of his resort line have been brisk, with, he says, 50 to 60 percent sell-throughs in just three weeks. There's no denying that the 27-year-old designer is hot, but the important thing is that he's intent on not just coasting along. There's his new 9,000-square-foot Garment District showroom and studio, for starters. And then there's his pre-fall lineup itself, which has a harder edge than his fans may be used to, thanks in part to his use of leather, a material he's working with for the first time. The collection's showpiece is a silver leather cocktail number laser-cut with a feathering technique that makes it look like panne velvet. It's available in an "editorial" 18-inch length, as well as a more conservative 23-inch option, like all of his dresses. Wu also made a big push into separates. A "two-in-one" short-sleeve sweater with a long-sleeve jersey knit built in underneath topped a mini, which was made from sequins that had been bent and covered with chiffon to evoke feathers. Sharp-looking blazers, meanwhile, were cinched with leather belts and paired with short shirtdresses or skirts. Positive developments, all around. —Nicole Phelps

"I'm really having a 'night moment,' " Gilles Mendel said of his pre-fall collection. His core clientele—starlets readying for awards season, included—will surely be drawn to the draped gowns and elegant cocktail frocks Mendel has made his name with, this season in metallic golds and stoplight reds that almost call to mind the twinkling lights of a city after sunset. But the designer wasn't focused solely on evening; he smartly experimented in other areas by playing with fabric combinations. A cropped wool tuxedo jacket, for example, got a youthful twist with jersey insets, and the furs were not exactly your grandmother's variety: A mix of sable, muskrat, and raccoon jazzed up a standard winter topper, while a cropped multi-fur trimmed jacket with removable leather sleeves was about as hip a pelt as we've seen. —Romney Leader

After a Spring show that was all pale grays and whites with just a few shots of red, Donna Karan's pre-fall lineup, which takes its inspiration from autumn leaves in Central Park, is all about bold color. Think plum, brandy, olive, and heath with touches of parrot green and kingfisher blue. Karan used a peacock camouflage, the collection's sole print, for a cargo jacket—a piece that had the dual function of dressing up her pegged, elasticized skirts, or dressing down one of her slinky jersey gowns. Also smart and versatile was the double-knit bustier and silk jersey floor-grazing skirt combo she proposed for evening. This was signature Karan with its juxtapositions of utilitarian army jackets and trenches alongside relaxed T-shirt dresses and trapeze chemises. The vibrant color palette should ensure that it stands out in the stores. —Nicole Phelps

Maria Cornejo has menswear on the brain. The designer recently announced she's launching a line for the boys for Spring, and her pre-fall collection was peppered with masculine details like tailored tuxedo vests and sleek cropped trousers in suiting fabrics. She balanced these more androgynous shapes with signature Cornejo pieces: bubble-hem dresses, asymmetric-strapped blouses, and slouchy cotton pants. The earthy palette of mocha, olive, and ultramarine coordinated with her new prints, which were derived from broken pottery found in Istanbul, a leafy canopy in L.A., and pebbles washed in by the sea (all images originally snapped on the globe-trotting designer's iPhone). Other than the menswear elements, we were in familiar territory, but Cornejo's devoted fans will find plenty to like. —Romney Leader

"You have to make a woman fall in love with your clothes." That was Oscar de la Renta backstage before his pre-fall show, talking about how to woo the customer during the recession. Up economy or down, special pieces, not basics, are this designer's MO, and at his runway show today, he sent out a few beauties. On the more restrained side, there was a great pair of black denim toreador pants, worn with a pretty embroidered nude silk chiffon blouse, as well as a sexy plunging lace cocktail dress, also in black. But de la Renta wasn't really in understated mode. His color palette was a spicy mix of canary yellow, vermillion, pink, and ruby, and he favored ikats, suzani embroideries, and bold patchworks to simpler fare. Many of the looks were accessorized with scarves or little sweaters wrapped around the models' necks. The multicolor patchwork carried into evening; he showed a long narrow skirt with a ruffled silk chiffon blouse and a can't-miss-it necklace. Some clients might find that kind of full-on luxe too over-the-top, downturn or not. For them, de la Renta whipped up a black silk faille gown with plenty of drama on the left shoulder that looked special in a lower key. —Nicole Phelps