Jenny Packham is known for her red-carpet gowns, and she certainly didn't stray from exquisite detailing for Spring 2013. Beading provided major glitz, while black-and-white dresses lent a touch of retro. A few polka-dot looks added a playful vibe. The color palette was mostly neutral but a couple bright-orange dresses were fun and unexpected.

When Narciso Rodriguez said his Spring 2013 show would start at 8 p.m. Tuesday night, he meant it. While other designers can't manage to get their shows going until 20 or 30 minutes after their scheduled start times, Rodriguez brought the lights down and turned the music up in his show space at 8:06 — just as a final group of attendees rushed into the room.

Perhaps that urgency stemmed from all the new statements Rodriguez had to make with this show. He's never been the kind of designer who needed decorations, but this season's garments featured laminated wood paillettes that formed shimmering floral patterns on dresses and slouchy t-shirts. Rodriguez also played with color in a way he hasn't in the past. The orange tones he employed for Fall 2012 came back for Spring and breathed fire into a few garments, but those pieces were made to stand in line with a rainbow of teal, green, and pink — in addition to the ever-present black and white the designer relies on.

The clothes themselves subscribed to his longstanding love affair with the bias cut. Jackets without closures looked fresh, but a selection of nearly-sheer white dresses that featured panels of pink or black fabric displayed Rodriguez's mastery of the technique.

The gossamer wings of a dragonfly found themselves as a visual and material motif in Sophie Theallet's light-as-air Spring 2013 collection. The bugs formed prints on everything from simple cardigans to floor-length gowns and even a camisole paired with trim, printed trousers. But the most arresting looks in this very pretty collection were the skirts and dresses — sometimes solid, sometimes printed — covered with organza. The sheer material obscured some of the prints, creating an eye-catching interest as the models moved down the runway. It also helped give other dresses an element of depth and shape they wouldn't have had otherwise.

Latex, leather, and lace — three materials that can easily conjure tawdry images when left to their own devices — were made impressively pretty in Oscar de la Renta's Spring 2013 collection.

There was a definite '60s feel to this offering, created by nipped-in waists, full skirts, bateau necklines, and three-quarter-length sleeves on jackets, sweaters, and cardigans. (Erika Bearman, de la Renta's public relations chief, tweeted that the models' neon-streaked beehive hairdos were very "breakfast @ tiffanys meets daphne guinness.") A mustard-colored macramé cardigan was paired with a sleeveless ruffled top in a brighter yellow that got tucked into a high-waisted pencil skirt made from tiers of plaid. Later on, a sweet pink tweed skirt was paired with a lacy top belted at the waist. Betty Draper — or any real or fictional Junior Leaguer of her era — wouldn't have felt out of place in the blue tweed cardigan trimmed in white leather.

A blue-green latex skirt and tank top, on the other hand, were a different story. Those edgier garments were tied to the show's overall feeling by being stowed underneath a cardigan covered with little green beads. An otherwise demure white suit jacket and shift dress were decorated with unexpected black graffiti squiggles.

De la Renta merged that youthful attitude with his established elegance through his eveningwear section. A sparkly strapless number in dove gray and a navy-and-white-striped gown with a full skirt will undoubtedly speak to women of all ages.

Marc Jacobs's Spring 2013 mainline collection may have been all about restrained sensuality, but his secondary line was clearly all about fun. As in the thing that girls just wanna have. It came spelled with a capitol F, and it touched everything from the pastel striped runway to the 1982 electropop playing on the speakers to the Cyndi Lauper scarfs wrapped atop the models' heads.

As for the clothes, well, they were pretty jazzy too. Lots of wacky geometric prints, riotous hues, and plenty of washed-out denim and stripes. On boxy tops, shoulder-padded blazers, flouncy skirts, and peg-leg pants — which came tight-rolled at the ankle, remember that? — it made for a pretty energetic offering. Pile it on, and turn it up, the designer seemed to be saying. And really, why not? There's nothing much more fun than that.

After last season's abstract exploration in opposites, it's nice to see Vera Wang delve into something softer for Spring 2013. The designer looked to the "romantic beauty and sensuality of India," and thus the pieces on offer here were tinged with a far-flung sense of Eastern exoticism. But don't go thinking that means saris and sarongs. Nope, that's far too literal an interpretation for a designer as elegant as Wang. Instead, these were clothes that, with their feminine plays on proportions, rich jewel tones, and dazzling textural embellishment, were steeped in modern wearability. And they were all the more captivating for it.

If you think you see allusions to Game of Thrones in Rodarte's well-armored Spring 2013 collection, think again: Laura Mulleavy claimed backstage Tuesday that she's never seen the HBO costume drama.

Whether the same can be said of her sister Kate is uncertain, but what we do know is that this collection drew inspiration from a rich store of references including medieval garb, fantasy role-playing games, and motorcycles. If nods to the Hells Angels (leather jackets with ropes of fringe) seem out of place with the other touchpoints in this collection, it was the Mulleavys' signature layered decoration that blended them all together.

Second-skin printed turtleneck sweaters, for example, were made battle ready with the addition of matelasse bodices and breastplates made from origami-folded brocades. A skirt made from open square panels of a metallic fiber made for a modern take on chain mail — and there were actual chains used in a number of decorative belts.

The looks that were more damsel in distress than knight in shining armor were just as fantastical, but with less edge. A stunning blue gown with a high neckline and short sleeves featured a bodice of latticed metal pieces that looked like a luxury chastity belt.

Mark Badgley and James Mischka's Spring 2013 collection drew on the 1935 film version of A Midsummer's Night Dream, which explains why the models in the show looked a little like faeries emerging from the woods.

"When they shot that film, they put tulle and sequins in front of the camera to create that ethereal world," Mischka said at the show. Naturally, they sent models down the runway from behind a woodsy backdrop dressed in gauzy gowns decorated with lots of sparkle. The highly detailed frocks from their main collection were shown with separates and daywear from their secondary line, Mark & James. But the garments shared a mutual love of glitz that allowed the designers to tell a richer story: A suit jacket featured panels of tweed coated in Lurex, and a sparkly pair of tailored sweatpants seemed just as luxurious as the lacy, rhinestone-laden gown Erin O'Connor wore in the show.

With an ever-growing empire of stores located in 12 countries (and counting), it's no wonder that Tory Burch has her eye on the global marketplace for Spring 2013. In fact, it was a recent trip to Morocco that helped to inform this season's mixed-up international bazaar look. Crochet raffia, intricate beading, folksy embroidery, batik patterns, tile prints and even tie-dye (handmade by women in Guinea) featured heavily, while models wore jeweled Moroccan slippers and carried bags fashioned to look like mini suitcases. There was a lot to look at it.

And it totally worked. Why? Because Burch kept her shapes simple, and she never strayed far from those classic prepster silhouettes she does so well. "We were thinking about a stylish magpie who picks up special pieces while traveling around the world and always mixes them with classic sportswear," the show notes explained.

Tom Mora and Jenna Lyons make a pretty great pair: Mora, with his clever eye for spritely detail, and Lyons, with her crazy-cool mixing skills. The duo has managed to make the brand's presentation a must-see now for nearly every Lincoln Center attendee. Case in point: today, even Solange Knowles stopped by.

So what is it that everyone is so excited to see? Well, the clothes, for one. And the shoes, bags, and accessories for two, three, and four. With their playful colors and wearable shapes that fuse sporty prep with punchy modernity, they're quite the knockouts. This season's batch was no exception. And the way they're styled up and mixed around, well, that's always inspiring too.

But there's a secondary element to the J.Crew presentation that makes it doubly exciting, and it's this: the simple fact that after nearly a week of scrambling around from show to show, ogling and analyzing the most luxurious of clothes, there's nothing more refreshing than walking into a room and seeing a whole wall of looks that, come next Spring, you know could easily be yours.