A Feeling. Bode SS24

June 30, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Whether Emily Adams Bode Aujla shows her collections on a runway in Paris or as a lookbook, the New York-based designer always manages to capture a true feeling, a notion of a fleeting moment. For spring-summer 2024, Bode seeks inspiration in the Crane Estate, the residence in Massachusetts owned by an eccentric 90-year-old woman where her mother worked back in 1976. This appeared to be a perfect backdrop for Emily’s recently found obsession. Since her wedding last year, the designer is interested in investigating eveningwear. “It’s something that I’ve become quite passionate about because it’s really picked up for us,” she said. It’s evident in menswear pieces like the translucent-and-black all-over-sequin-embellished jacket, the navy blue suit with goldenrod crochet embroidery, and the white suit worn with a gorgeous blue and white striped pajama top with frog closures (you can also get the matching pants). It’s also apparent in pieces from her nascent womenswear line, like the sheer green dropped-waist dress studded with seed beads and the cream brocade midi-length jacket with three oversized satin bows for a closure. She called it a wedding jacket. “I love this idea,” Bode Aujla said. “I didn’t get to wear a vintage jacket like this for my wedding, but I thought that’s what I would wear. In my head, after the ceremony, this is what you put on; or maybe it’s worn at the courthouse wedding.” She continued, “Or you could wear this with black tuxedo trousers and have a really elevated evening look that’s not a dress. I could easily put that in men’s, but I think I wanted this and I think our girl wants this.” Although women have been buying and wearing Bode since the beginning, womenswear officially debuted last season in Paris. Those who expected it to look exactly like the menswear but with a slightly different fit were in for a surprise; the range is decidedly sexy. This came across in the knit panties and matching T-shirts, tanks, and bralettes; in dusty blue crochet dresses, and in the thin-as-air fish-print printed caftans. The designer added, “people commented about this on our runway show too. A lot of people expected it to be one way, and it’s like, the Bode woman compliments the Bode guy, she is not the Bode guy.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Beautiful Defiance. Marc Jacobs AW23

June 27, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

The 29 models did two finale laps (which took about three minutes) and then Marc Jacobs was out taking his bow. The defiant scarcity and razor-like sharpness of the designer’ latest fashion show is just so refreshing in times of endless fashion weeks and flashy presentations – where the clothes are no longer the main focus. Jacobs’ clothes – some of his most powerful designs in seasons, less couture-ish, more ready-to-wear-ish – themselves looked indebted to the 1980s, the last analog decade before the internet went wide, and the one when Jacobs came of age in New York City. But the show notes were written by the newly launched Open AI Chat GPT in a noticeably bland, monotonous style. Sample line: “The Marc Jacobs fashion show mesmerized its audience with an awe-inspiring fusion of masculine tailoring and feminine elegance.” The surprise of the experience, a rewriting of the show rules, made you wonder if Jacobs is onto something. As brief as they were, the back and forth of the two finale walks colored in the broad strokes of the show notes. The models’ cyberpunk bowl cuts conjured Pris, Daryl Hannah’s pleasure model replicant from Blade Runner, which seemed like another clue about what Jacobs was up to. They wore the masculine tailoring the Chat GPT described with overscale shoulders and high-waisted deeply pleated pants, as well as femme minidresses that showed off lots of leg–black stockings sliced at the calves over white ankle socks, and pointy-toed flats. The black-and-white palette and the body-conscious attitude of the little nipped waist dresses made the collection seem more essential, more New York, more… Marc Jacobs. To sum up: the designer’s last few collections were true eye-candies, but the most recent one is a true triumph.

Sensual. Tory Burch Resort 2024

June 11, 2023June 11, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Tory Burch herself is always in motion, which might be why she’s been leaning into stretch fabrics and lean, almost athletic shapes recently. Last September at her brilliant spring show she introduced a modular concept that combined a stretch top and tube skirt with capri-length leggings, or teamed a stretch top and a part-opaque, part-sheer skirt. For resort, there’s a pair of dresses that recreate the color-blocking of those looks – same big impact but in a couldn’t-be-easier all-in-one shape. The deep-V sweaters accompanied by sheer turtleneck dickeys here do the same thing: you get the look of layers in one completist piece. “I wanted clean lines,” Burch said of the latest offering. That translated to aerodynamic jersey tees and narrow skirts shown in monochrome white or navy blue punctuated only with a studded hip-slung belt, or to a leather handkerchief top embellished with more of those silver studs paired with mannish, straight-cut trousers. The tailoring is minimal and stripped of any visible hardware. Minimal but sensual is the message behind a trio of special dresses that take their cues from ballerina’s tutus. Combining a stretch tulle bodice with a fluid skirt draped from curved underwire, they don’t cling to the body but rather seem to float on top of it. Pairing them with skimmer flats, Burch seemed to be returning to a point she’s been driving home for a couple of years now, that for this designer comfort and glamour are inextricably intertwined.

Anniversary. Rosie Assoulin Resort 2024

June 8, 2023June 8, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

With resort 2024 collection, Rosie Assoulin celebrates the 10 year anniversary of her brand. Time flies! I remember seeing the New York-based designer’s first collections and being absolutely seduced by her playful approach to eveningwear (we officially said goodbye to body-con styles and the notion of a “cocktail dress”), her colourist sensitivity, and the charming quirk that defines her signature style and fresh take on femininity. Observing Rosie’s work today, you have the same impression as 10 years ago: she’s a designer that marches to the beat of her own drum, who keeps her brand relevant, yet attractively off-the-mainstream-grid. The New York-ness that oozes from Assoulin’s fashion also plays a crucial role in her aesthetic. There’s just something very Park Avenue about her statuesque, origami-like gowns with harp bustiers, and then you’ve got a pin-striped suit that’s so laid-back it would work perfect for both, the office and a run to your favorite bodega. Resort 2024 isn’t a literal walk down the memory lane, but it has all the Rosie signifiers – some that had its debut exactly a decade ago. The very-oversized look, featuring a white top with a trail on the back, styled with matching white flares, is comfortingly familiar. The watercolour pattern come in always-chic picnic gingham and Frenchie stripes. A print of orchid pops in a couple of places, and the floral theme is translated into draped brooches that do the Carrie Bradshaw work on the masculine blazers and coats. Can’t forget to mention the summer-perfect, water print: its makes me think of Alex Katz, David Hockney and Tom Wesselmann, a couple of colour-obsessed, pop-art artists Rosie loves and in whose oeuvre finds constant inspiration. Assoulin, one of the most independent designers in NYC, in whose studio such talents as Christopher John Rogers have made their first steps and evolved, creates clothes for a loyal fan base of women, who appreciate uncompromising joy and boldness in their wardrobes. Here’s to another 10 years of Rosie’s brilliant creativity and fabulous fashion universe!

Dream of Creation. Christopher John Rogers SS24

May 4, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Christopher John Rogers has emerged from the pandemic at the top of New York’s young generation of designers. In his rainbow stripes and grids of colorful polka dots, he’s found strong, identifiable signatures, which is an important element of brand building that not all emerging talents understand or are capable of. The uptown, put-together polish of his clothes is another distinguishing factor. Many of his peers practice a scrappier, dirtier, more underground kind of fashion. His garments feel at ease on the red carpet. “I love being with a model and draping, or doing research, or really thinking about fit, about fabric, about texture, but I feel like only 10 to 15% of what I do is making clothes,” Rogers explained. “In some ways this collection was informed by wanting to go back to that essential feeling.” The sleeveless top and ball skirt of the first look suggested a new direction – as @londongirlinyc put it, very Carrie Bradshaw style, pre-And-Just-Like-That. To start, they were all-white, and then there was the off-kilter, undone aspect of their construction, but they were red herrings. Rogers quickly found his way back to the bright color and unbridled exuberance that are his hallmarks. The graphic stripes he’s known for were joined by similarly bold florals in the vein of Warhol’s daisies; a pair of evening dresses in black-and-white polka dots of varying sizes and overlays, both of which are definitely red carpet-bound; and going-out tops constructed like oversize birthday present bows. Rogers does a good business with knits. This season, he played with chunky yarns and thick, cozy layers, or fine gauges, though in both cases, he styled them to expose a flash of décoletté or midriff. On the opposite end of the texture spectrum were an elegant fitted button-down and matching long skirt and a pantsuit in a shiny material he likened to Glad garbage bags. “It’s this really amazing fabric that’s actually coated taffeta,” he said. To finish, there was a group of black looks, including a panniered ball skirt and a draped top with the romance of the opening outfit. Success begets success, and as Rogers’s business grows he’ll face ever more pressures and responsibilities that keep him from the design studio. The industry can be uniquely hard on promising newcomers, putting them in a box at the same time we demand they grow and evolve. But if that draped top and ball skirt can tell us anything, it’s that Rogers is as committed to the dream of creation as ever.