Not Just A Lady. Puppets & Puppets AW24

February 14, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

It’s so sad to hear that this was Puppets & Puppets‘ final collection in New York. Carly Mark is moving to London, and plans to shape her business around accessories. Unfortunately, of all the fashion capitals, New York is the least merciful towards emerging brands. And it’s a double-pity, because the autumn-winter 2024 collection was one of the finest works by Mark to date. Reducing all things superfluous and focusing on garment-making, the line-up offered some of the most brilliant ideas of this fashion week. There were lots and lots of tights, and that’s what the artist-turned-designer likes to wear when she’s in an Little Edie mood, just as she dons a hoodie and T-shirt when she feels like a basement lord. There was something seemingly haphazard about the lineup, which featured lots of wrapping and twisting and things tied on, while models clutched at their get-ups. This wasn’t to keep the clothes on, explained Mark backstage, but a gesture borrowed from fittings. Clutching one’s heart is also an instinctual movement made when things go south. Many of the patterns took the form of spirals; perhaps a metaphor for unraveling. Veils suggested an element of religion, which, if you think about it, has a twisted logic. For the time being, Mark is, in effect, becoming a fashion nun, in the sense that she’s abstaining from clothes making. Along with the more revealing looks were those that were almost proper. “Lady is a word we’ve actually been using a lot in the office,” said Mark. “When anything feels a bit lady, we fuck it up a little bit. But I think swans are an interesting conversation because Capote, in a way, was the puppet master to these refined women – or at least tried to be. I am really interested in not letting that happen to me. I am the puppet master. I am in control of my life and myself and the decisions I make. So if anything, I’m both Capote and the swan.” Looking forward to see what this exciting designer does next.

Here are couple of Puppets & Puppets designs you can shop before they become holy grails!

ED’s SELECTION:

Dallas Floral Sequined Short Pannier Dress

Small Rose Leather Top-Handle Bag

Windblown Wide Button Front Coat

Caroline Sequined Twin Hip Mini Dress

Mini Cookie Leather Top-Handle Bag

Chow Printed Mesh Top

Spoon Moc-Croc Leather Hobo Bag

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Eyes. Area SS24

February 13, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Area‘s Piotrek Panszczyk is a maximalist; when he loves a theme, he goes all the way with it. This see-now-buy-now collection’ the starting point was eyes, which led to cartoon eyes, which led to the simplified shape of a circle inside another circle. “The eyes as a symbol just always speak to us because they connect so many of our favorite art forms like Pop Art in the ’60s or surrealism in the 1920s; from Warhol to Man Ray,” the designer said. The show opened with a simple mini shift dress in white leather with circular leather appliqués at the chest in the shape of eyes. Eye shapes were also cut out from pink leather to create an oversized coat and matching mini skirt in carnation pink, and another in white, which he paired with a high waist slim maxi skirt. Denim is a big category for Area and every season there is a new novel approach to the fabric. This season, he created a Dalmatian jacquard denim that was truly fantastic. The spring-summer 2024 collection has it all: for editorial, a very Balenciaga-esque long veiled-cape dress. And for those who fall in love with that piece, a pair of hot pants, an oversize shirtdress, a corset top, and of course, wide-leg jeans. Panszczyk can also create impact through minimalism. At the end of the show, the concept had been stripped back to its essence: a gold metallic ring with a crystal floating in the middle, floating in a sea of black cotton. It appeared at the center of a simple oversize cotton shirt, at the halter neck of an easy jumpsuit, and also on the breasts of a slim strapless shift.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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New York Chic. Altuzarra AW24

February 12, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Altuzarra celebrates 15 years of business, quite a milestone for even the most thriving fashion brands in New York. Personally, I think this last year was a sensational moment in Joseph Altuzarra‘s career: collection after collection, he delivered line-ups that aren’t only chic, but very, very New York. His autumn-winter 2024 offering ranks very high in the shapeless blur of other collections we’ve seen this week. The designer brought together a group of about 100 guests at his Woolworth Building for a salon-style presentation. His daughter sat on his mother’s lap, and there were no celebrities or influencers in the room – rather editors, journalists and buyers. This already felt like a new direction. “I worked on this collection in a different way,” Altuzarra said at a preview. “It wasn’t as much about stories and much more about pieces that I felt interested in developing.” Like a sweeping mac with a storm flap back lifted directly from his own life. Altuzarra has started showjumping competitively out on Long Island, where he and his husband have a home; later on in the collection, a pair of silk twill sundresses featured abstract prints that looked equestrian in nature. Amidst the pictures of horse girls on the moodboard were Tamara de Lempicka paintings that may have inspired a crystal and lace flapper-ish slip dress. Illustrations of clowns in Pierrot ruffs definitely influenced the frilled collars and cuffs on knits and blouses, which were often topped by more masculine pieces, like a peacoat, or a neatly tailored blazer. This collection takes Altuzarra to a new territory, one he definitely should keep on exploring in the next seasons.

How about a couple of Altuzarra essentials?

ED’s SELECTION:

Sif Pleated Polka-dot Crepe De Chine Maxi Skirt

Booth Cable-knit Turtleneck Sweater

Karina Gathered Satin Midi Skirt

Kitriani Dyed Peplum Jacket with Smocked Waist

Fannie Midi Skirt with Ruffle Trim

Adams Tailored Wool Coat

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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In Her Feelings. Khaite AW24

February 12, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Another season, another Khaite fashion show presented in total darkness. I understand Catherine Holstein likes a mysterious mood, but again, the clothes are barely visible, and the models looked, as Rachel Tashjian wrote in her on-point review, disempowered. The collection had two main running themes: the leathers and the billow-y silhouettes. The bulky shapes of Khaite coats and jackets, with their exaggerated Claude Montana-ish shoulders, generous cowl necklines, and full sleeves evoked the late ’80s and early ’90s, when Holstein would’ve been a young child playing in her mom’s closet. However it was the designer’s newly-found obsession of draping silk gazar the ultimate highlight of this collection. One sculptural top was originally meant to be a dress, but as the model slid into it at the fitting and lifted its hem to put on shoes, Holstein preferred the curving volumes of it bunched up at her hips, and it was reworked at the last minute. “I want women to feel exhilarated when they put on my clothes,” she said. If only that exhilaration was more perceivable in the dead-serious format the Khaite shows are taking.

Now here’s a couple of my Khaite favourites you can scoop…

ED’s SELECTION:

Marcy Crystal-embellished Satin Ballet Flats

Luphia Cashmere T-shirt

Maeve Weekender Large Textured-leather Tote

Romee Open-back Draped Merino Wool Maxi Dress

Maiden Crocheted Flats

Lago Cotton-poplin Shirt

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Nothing Superfluous. Proenza Schouler AW24

February 11, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Proenza Schouler delivered a very proper collection; a reasonable proposition of a contemporary wardrobe. For autumn-winter 2024, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez finessed outerwear essentials, took tailoring cues from 90s New York’s finest Helmut Lang (in a definitely more convincing way than Peter Do), and stripped away anything superfluous. “The noise,” McCollough said. “It made us want to focus inward, focus on something a little intimate.” The tailoring was clean and sharp, but not severe. The parkas looked cool. The temptation to cocoon in cozy shearling vests and coats, of which there were many here, is highly relatable, and the Proenza Schouler designers can’t go wrong leaning into that instinct – we all want to feel good in these increasingly weary times.