For the Helmut Lang Pre-Fall 2014 collection, layering was so central to designers Nicole and Michael Colovos this season that they created short dresses with multiple hems to produce a trompe l’oeil effect. Other times, the designers piled as many as four different items into one look; in that case, what was imperative was keeping their fabrics as weightless as possible. No wrong moves there. Leather blazers, for instance, came with wool sleeves, or else a biker silhouette was whipped up in simple cotton. The cotton jacket was a thoughtful experiment, but it had nothing on the actual oversize Perfecto they cut in supple black leather—when something works, it works. As a motif, lightness continued into the shoes, a relatively new category for the Colovoses. Their oxfords are not only constructed from perforated leather.