Bill Blass will make longer dresses hip again. Photos by Mary Jo Almeida-Shore

Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week — the fashion extravaganza that just swept through New York City — did more than preview the hottest designers’ spring collections. It provided South Florida divas a glimpse into Funkshion, the sensational style parade set to run Oct. 10 to 14 at Paris Studios in Miami Beach.

“It's great being here and showing the spring collection,” said music mogul-turned-designer Russell Simmons. “It’s Miami, a fashion capital. They say that it is New York, but, really, all the energy is here and all the new ideas are here, so I think it's good that we are here at Funkshion.”

The New York City spectacle featured spring collections from some of the fashion world’s hottest designers: Nicole Miller, Badgley Mischka, Vera Wang, Max Azria, Michael Kors, Diane von Fürstenberg, Carolina Herrera, Anna Sui, Betsey Johnson, Zac Posen, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Bill Blass and Marc Jacobs.

The shows — held last week in iconic white tents in Bryant Park and in several offsite locations throughout the city — included all the mayhem and madness that has become synonymous with New York City’s Fashion Week.

More than 3,500 well-heeled fashionistas, editors, VIPs, buyers and celebrities scrambled from the main Bryant Park site to far-off locations throughout Manhattan in their Blahniks and Jimmy Choos. Although many wished they had picked up a free pair of Havaianas in the main tent lobby, the schlepping and aching feet were well worth their coveted runway-side seats.

The shows demonstrated the latest trends with the drama and flair of a Broadway performance. Each began with unparalleled excitement, as the runway, which is repainted nightly, was unwrapped and dressed in musical sequences that included everything from opera to lounge music to rap to rock ’n’ roll. The soundtrack for the Gottex show, for instance, featured a remix of “The Lonely Goatherd” from The Sound of Music and modern-day house music as supermodels dressed as “Bond girls” strutted down the runway.

Michael Kors offered a take-your-life-into-your-own-hands variety of excitement as animal rights activists protesting his use of fur mobbed the main tent entrance just hours before his show began. The police presence was reminiscent of South Beach’s Source Awards Weekend; no one was allowed into Kors’ show without prior clearance and photo identification. Ironically, his show didn’t feature even one fur. Still, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, of The Devil Wears Prada fame, bee-lined for the exit before the show even ended. Perhaps she was afraid that one of the activists would dump a can of paint on her infamous “bob.”

Designers showcased simple separates, fluttery feminine dresses and glamorous evening gowns. Most of the light, breezy and free-flowing pieces were designed to complement the feminine figure without clinging to it. Bright, goddess-style glam gowns and stilettos replaced the traditional little black dress. The spring designs featured neutral tones; such bold colors as gold, fuschia, deep yellow, purple and green; and graphic and floral prints.

The collections not only are practical for Miami fashionistas dressing for summer year-round, but they also give us a taste of what to expect when Funkshion opens in Miami Beach in October.

This highly anticipated fashion showcase, with its roster of 20,000 attendees, will celebrate the fusion of the fashion and music industries by providing an intelligent, innovative platform for progressive, established and emerging designers to showcase their collections.

Although it features such high-end designers as Nicole Miller, Miss Sixty and Marithe Francois Girbaud, its pace will be significantly less hectic than its New York predecessor.

“This is more comfortable and easy and about just having a fun time,” local fashion sensation Esteban Cortazar said. “In New York it is stressful. This was stressful, of course, but it’s a different type of stress. I would love to come back and do Funkshion Miami; I think it’s a great opportunity for me.”