Spring is the new fall and white is the new black – at least in Isaac Mizrahi’s bracing, crisp collection, all clean lines and stark, Clorox-y whites, shot through with bolts of bright tangerine.

After closing his ready-to-wear business in 1998, Mizrahi has been one of the fashion’s most recognizable characters, yet also its perpetual underdog: designing a line for Target, hosting a short-lived talk show on basic cable, mortifying celebrities on the red carpet at last year’s Golden Globes.

In keeping with that theme, Mizrahi fractured his pelvis in three places just last week, so rooting for him now is a non-negotiable. In turn, he presented a thoroughly unexpected line that was buoyant and whimsical – a beaded silver mini-slipdress, a fluttery black gown alight with beaded feathers, fur lining peeking just below a skirt. Happy, bright, and blooming with optimism, it was a welcome rebuke to so much of the melancholy otherwise on display.