NEW YORK — Part of the art crowd filled a section of Cynthia Rowley’s front row Thursday night. Artist Terence Koh sat with National Arts Club curator Stacy Engman while art writer Glenn O’Brien was situated a handful of seats away. Minutes before the show started, photographer Terry Richardson showed up with his girlfriend Audrey Gelman (who so happens to be Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer's press secretary). Rowley’s own partner, Half Gallery owner (and Rowley’s husband) Bill Powers had to tell people in the already-full front row to scoot over and squeeze together to make room for them. Also in the house were artists Josephine Meckseper, Richard Butler, Will Cotton, Richard Phillips, Richard Butler, Sarah Hoover, and Tom Sachs, and Gagosienne Rose Dergan.

Cynthia Rowley’s fall/winter 2012 collection gave a nod to blue-collar workers, specifically to welders, mechanics, cobblers, and leathermen. The designer also cited Meckseper’s upcoming oil rig installation and Rachel Feinstein’s carriages as inspiration in her show notes. Gorgeous tortoise-shell and kaleidoscope prints in fiery orange, brick red, and black-and-white covered the dresses. (Our favorite was a kaleidoscope shell-print number.) A palette of navy, black, and army green was scattered over leather, tweed, and denim. Jeweled turtlenecks, which were actually the designer’s necklaces from her Dannijo collaboration, added a bit of a sparkling contrast to the otherwise muted looks. Rowley reinterpreted a mechanic’s uniform with deep brown coveralls embellished with colorful feminine baubles, while brown leather shortalls served as her take on what a machinist would wear. Rowley’s collection did indeed capture the spirit of the working man, channeling it into a fashionable woman’s wardrobe.

Click on the slide show for images from Cynthia Rowley's fall/winter 2012 collection.

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