Rachel Zoe goes on safari with spring collection

NEW YORK — It wasn’t a coincidence that so many fashion watchers at Rachel Zoe’s Spring-Summer 2014 show were snapping photos of the models’ feet each time a particularly comfortable-looking shoe — a glittery metallic Birkenstock-style sandal — came by. With New York Fashion Week soon coming to a close, anyone who’s been wearing stilettos between runway shows is now blistered and bandaged.

The shoe epitomized what Zoe seemed to be going for in her clothes, too: Outfits that you can travel far and wide in. Either on safari, or just out on the streets.

The designer “takes the modern jet set girl on a safari,” according to her publicity material. “A traveling muse wearing her femininity with effortless confidence.”

In the clothes, that translated to a mix of trendy and classic items. Leather was prominent. One suit, in a luscious chocolate brown, had a belted safari-style jacket over short shorts. There was an appealing belted leather mini-dress. There were up-to-there miniskirts but also long, lacy dresses. There were slouchy satin pants, and comfy sweaters. And there was a good deal of denim — distressed, in short shorts or baggy pants, and not distressed, as in a suit with a denim coat and high-waisted pants.

Model Coco Rocha appreciated the versatility of the designer’s work. “Rachel definitely has pieces that you can go grocery shopping (in) as well as go out for the night in one piece. ... Especially here in New York, I think that’s what you kind of look for in your designers.”

Playing with her little son backstage before the show on, Zoe, who is pregnant with her second child, described her customer as “a cool girl — she doesn’t try too hard, she knows who she is, she’s very confident, she’s always on the go doing a hundred things, but she’s got style.”