Rachel Roy Spring 2009

She has had a big summer: A baby, her second with husband Damon Dash, arrived in May; then, in June, Jones Apparel Group acquired a 50 percent stake in her three-year-old label.

The developments seem to have put Roy in a philosophical mood. The oft-quoted Gandhi dictum, "Be the change you want to see in the world," was printed on her program notes and whimsically stitched in French on a narrow sheath. The abundance of embellishments—gold studding, heart embroidery—notwithstanding, Roy generally takes a realist's approach to fashion, and for Spring she said she wanted to mine the territory between elegance and ease.