Reviews

Feel Free. Eckhaus Latta SS22

| Design & Culture by Ed

What Eckhaus Latta sent out this season was one of their most concise and quintessential collections ever. “It’s about feeling more free,” said Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta. “Really feeling yourself, coming out of the past year-and-a-half and wanting to feel sexy and confident and free.” Garments were filmy, thin dust-colored layers of nylon layered together, ivory cotton dresses and bodysuits with oval cutouts and hundreds of snaps, and airy shirts in lime and faux leather jackets in cinnamon left open. Pieces were named after transient, erotic words: vapor turtleneck, undone jumpsuit, wisp dress. The torsos were out, the nipples were out, and in a statement of intent: models wore black thongs instead of the industry-standard beige. This collection felt like a Helmut Lang tribute, even if this wasn’t the intention. Back to the designers – both Latta and Eckhaus had a reckoning with their own bodies this past year; she became a first-time mother, he had a breakup and then the requisite hot boy summer. “We’re going through different things, but we both have a desire to just be fucking real,” said Latta.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Exuberant. Batsheva SS22

| Design & Culture by Ed

This was an exuberant, joyful and extremely uplifting Batsheva collection. Batsheva Hay’s spring-summer 2022 runway show pushed her prairie, girly aesthetic to electric new heights, at some points even camp-y territories. We’ve got crinolines, yards and yards of silver lamé, diva-worthy gowns with early-’60s swing backs, and simple white eyelet sundresses with tie dye tights. The show, which started with a ballad and swung into grunge, was a spectrum of Batsheva’s evolving asethetics. As the world opens up, Hay explained post-show, she can’t stop thinking of home: starting her brand in her home, her family in her home, and the freedom we have in our private homebound moments. Dialing up the collection’s glitz and campiness was her way of honoring dressing up at home, that moment when you throw it all on, do too much, and feel fashionable and free of peering gazes. Busy Philipps, Ego Nwodim, Amy Fine Collins, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, Veronica Webb, and more New York legends – and Batsheva clients – took turns in cascading frills and sweet dresses. This was one of these New York Fashion Week moments that we all missed during the pandemic seasons.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Sun Babe. Bevza SS22

| Design & Culture by Ed

The Bevza staples: a slinky, ab-revealing dress; a white slip; and a muted color palette. For spring-summer 2022, Svitlana Bevza emphasizes her label’s classics. Bevza was inspired by her own archives as well as the ocean. The latter allowed her to experiment with seashell bra tops, sailor scarves and hats, and wavelike seams adding texture to the body of dresses. The distinctly nautical details were charming. There’s also the sustainability factor: the boxy necklines of some pieces were meant to resemble plastic shopping bags, for instance, and several of the square patchwork dresses were made from scraps of fabrics in Bevza’s studio. Those frocks were quite appealing: they moved gorgeously when worn and had a subtle complexity that revealed itself the closer you got to the garments. This collection is for all the sun, sea and sand babes out there, ready to spend their time at the beach all day, all night.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Wild Flower. Gabriela hearst SS22

| Design & Culture by Ed

While Gabriela Hearst‘s organically beautiful vision at Chloé gradually starts to thrive in Paris, back home in New York, she does what she does best. In the crowd at spring-summer 2022 show were Naiomi Glasses and TahNibaa Naataanii. Members of the Navajo Nation, they collaborated with Hearst on the woven swatches that were inset into the bodice of a sleeveless dress and the shoulders of a trench. Glasses organized the arrangement (she’s a graduate of the Creative Futures Collective, which is dedicated to empowering creatives from disenfranchised communities), and Naataanii, who is a sheepherder and a weaver, did the hand work, with the help of her mother and daughter. At a preview, Hearst said, “I like to make sure that what we do is good for more people than just us.” Her press notes put it this way: “Being able to create beautiful pieces that are desirable and at the same time that empower others is probably one of the most satisfying personal experiences.” She also worked with Manos del Uruguay and a Bolivian collective, Madres & Artesanas Tex. The former are responsible for a couple of gorgeous chunky runas, and the latter for pieces in a finer gauge multicolor crochet based on a swirling, abstract painting Hearst made with her children. The non-profits are her regular collaborators, but she also talked about helping a close friend through a mental health crisis, and incorporating the art her friend made during her crisis into the spring collection. The flower print pieces that are the result of that process didn’t make it into the show, but in the studio they looked bright and lively. On the runway, Hearst’s verve is sometimes smoothed out in favor of concision and clarity, a certain fashionable decorum. But those who know Hearst, or even just follow her Instagram, are familiar with her irreverence, her inner wild child. She makes a dignified suit, but she’s also a woman who loves dip-dye.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Sanctuary. Proenza Schouler SS22

| Design & Culture by Ed

Proenza Schouler radiates with a laid-back, easy-going, summer-ish energy this season. There’s a reason why. Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough made Kauai their “home-office” during a period of pandemic time – it’s their favourite destination that they call their “sanctuary.” The island vibe influenced their new collection, which mixed scuba and surfing motifs, a color palette plucked from nature, and a few handmade leis from Maui with their more urban fare. Backstage after their Little Island show, they clarified that Hawaii wasn’t a literal reference, but rather a starting point for the collection’s ambience. Most of all, “they’re joyful clothes to step out in the world again.” There were suits, but they come in vivid shades of coral or orange cotton jacquard. Basic black, meanwhile, isn’t so basic when suit bottoms are cut tight like bicycle shorts with swingy fringe below the hems. A pair of block-printed floral dresses with looped hems had verve; the designers pointed out that the prints were the same on the front and back of the fabric rather than being reversed, a complicated technique to pull off. The point of the collection was not to look complicated – who needs too much sophistication after the tumultuous times? The gowns, in gorgeous acid colors, were made from fine gauze jersey, perfect for beach strolling. “They stretch and move, we all want to be comfortable.” This was one of the best Proenza Schouler collections in seasons, even though some Phoebe-Philo-Célinisms can’t be ruled out of their vocabulary. 

Collages by Edward Kanarecki.