Altuzarra

Like Tory Burch, Joseph Altuzarra is having a great, creative streak for the last couple of seasons. His latest Altuzarra collection – especially its intro and outro – captures the feeling one loves about autumn. The warm colours of leaves in the park. Experimenting with layers of knits and outerwear. The first couple of looks, absolutely chic and beautiful, were about combining an evening coat (or soiree jacket) with a floor-sweeping, silk column skirt. All that covered in Altuzarra’s signature tie-dye. Somehow, the designer managed elevate the print from boho to lady-like. Then, we’ve got the knitwear, which was a gracious walk down the memory lane of Donna Karan’s dance-inspired, late 1990s style filled with flowing silhouettes and body-soothing forms. The over-sized beanies – a nod to this Yohji Yamamoto collection maybe – were a cool addition. There were some low points in this offering, like a set of serious-looking, dull evening dresses that gave nothing, but then Altuzarra served the dessert. Parka coats and bomber jackets in yellow and blue satin, fur-trimmed and embellished, styled again with maxi skirts. If you look back at the designers early collections, you remind yourself this was the look that made the brand so desirable in the first place. Good for Altuzarra to revisit that trick.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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I haven’t seen an Altuzarra show in a while, but I follow Joseph Altuzarra‘s side project, Altu, which is a genderless label offering timeless essentials in a cool, off-duty, gritty aesthetic. To sum it up, it’s quite the opposite of the ultra-feminine style of the designer’s main label. But it seems to me that developing Altu let Joseph take a new perspective at Altuzarra. The spring-summer 2023 line-up shows a more relaxed, laid-back approach, and I like it. Well, maybe the first part of the collection is too isnpired with last summer’s Prada silhouette, but the second section is truly eye-pleasing. “The world feels so alien and scary. I’ve been interested in how people in the past have made sense of things,” Altuzarra said at a preview. “Finding tangible reasons for why things are happening is what people would do, and that’s what I’ve been expressing through the collections.” For spring he said he wanted to explore “this idea of a trip and nature as an entry point for psychedelic experiences.” A couple of books, The Teachings of Don Juan and Desert Solitaire, both written in the late ’60s and both delving into mysticism, proved inspirational. The show played out like a journey – or maybe a vision quest – starting with preppy-ish classics like striped shirts, cable sweaters, and minis that Altuzarra tweaked and twisted until they looked neither preppy nor classic. He topped them with boxy blazers or parkas, and accessorized the looks with retro Keds sneakers. The shibori-dyed dress of look 19 is where woman meets nature. Tie-dye and coin embroidery are two Altuzarra signatures, and he doubled down here, sending out a parade of exquisite dresses whose intricate craftsmanship is near unrivaled in New York. Most ambitious was the series of body-skimming numbers that were first tie-dyed, then pleated and twisted; their patterns looked like exotic skins. Other dresses were sewn first, then dyed. “It’s all done on a final garment. You basically can’t mess up, because if you do, you have to redo the whole thing,” he said. They take almost two months to make.