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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True To Yourself. Eckhaus Latta AW24

February 11, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

“We’ve been doing this for 13 years now: what does an Eckhaus Latta show mean for us?” Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta wondered. “Quiet luxury is a term that’s used a lot – and that’s so not what we are – but I like this idea of paring things back towards an idea of minimalism, which for us was just more about, ‘How do we make clothes and work that are concise?’” For autumn-winter 2024, that meant a runway show inside an empty industrial office in Hudson Square, and a sparse musical performance by Loren Kramar, which began with a cover of Lana Del Rey’s “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but I have it.” The first look was a cropped jacket made from laminated felt with an oversized faux-fur collar and cuffs worn with a pencil skirt with spiral seams and cutouts that revealed a little bit of leg. A shaggy coat in a shade of cardboard beige was paired with an easy semi-sheer cotton ribbed tank, and straight leg slouchy jeans in an earthy acid wash. Really, that’s a distinct Eckhaus Latta look in a nutshell. The collection was also sexy without trying very hard – just look at all the sheer dresses and body-wrapping knits, for both women and men. The last three looks featured black organza embroidered with elastic and printed with vintage photos found on eBay, layered over simple white slip dresses. By now the singer had moved on from Lana Del Rey and into a cover of “New York, New York.” The choice of songs felt like a message. While so many people love to declare that New York fashion is over, Eckhaus Latta believe in the city and in the community that has nurtured them throughout the years.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Safe From Harm. Willy Chavarría AW24

February 11, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Willy Chavarría‘s fashion show was so far the strongest moment of this New York Fashion Week. It started with a film, titled Safe from Harm, played on a screen behind a long table covered in a white lace tablecloth and filled with altar and votive candles like an offering. Directed by Chavarría, the film told a story of support and safety. As a diverse array of characters moved from space to space in an old house, working out, cooking, dressing up, letting emotions out, and comforting one another, it was a family affair. As the film came to a close, models emerged on the runway, seemingly stepping straight off the screen. This was a much-needed moment of action amidst all the overly minimalist, dead-serious shows in New York. For autumn-winter 2024, Chavarría expanded his sartorial vocabulary, borrowing from the particular glamour of the 1980s British upper crust, especially through his use of luxe plaid and houndstooth wools which he contrasted with leather jackets and biker details. The way the designer executed his signature jacket with an extra-wide shoulder worn with a houndstooth pussy bow blouse is just sublime. Highlights of the collection: black and white lace veils worn under caps and styled with either a black, over-sized coat or an all-white tracksuit. Chavarría subverts the codes of Catholic imagination like no other contemporary designer. As the models reached the end of the runway, they arranged themselves behind the aforementioned table, like an updated version of The Last Supper, with Chavarría himself taking the final position in the middle after the finale bow. After the applause died down and the models exited the runway, there was a sudden silence, and everyone remained in their seats, as if expecting an encore. Then, a second round of rapturous applause erupted. The reign of Willy Chavarría is really just getting started.

Need some Willy Chavarría action in your wardrobe?

ED’s SELECTION:

Satin Track Bomber Jacket

Skin of Night Buffalo T-Shirt

Chachi Wide-Leg Jeans

Tie-Neck Cotton Poplin Shirt

Cool Virgin Collab Crewneck Tee

Chachi Oversized Denim Trucker Jacket

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Safe. Helmut Lang AW24

February 10, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

It’s visible that Peter Do had great intentions and is doing his best to revive Helmut Lang. But with his sophomore collection for the brand, the New York-based designer falls into the trap all his predecessors stepped into: digging into the archives too much. Helmut Lang, the person, never looked back, nor did his fashion. He was always looking forward to new solutions for building a wardrobe fit for modern-day women and men. So why do contemporary designers taking helm of the brand think its the best idea to operate solely on references to Lang’s past work? Except for the fact that this Do collection is heavily inspired with Lang’s spring-summer 2003 “Chinatown bag” print and bubble wrap jackets, I see no novelty here. Also, do we really need another New York brand doing proper outerwear and proper tailoring? This market is already way too over-saturated by brands like Proenza Schouler, Khaite, Marina Moscone, and ironically, Peter Do, the brand.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Meditation. CDLM AW24

February 9, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

CDLM keeps on being a fascinating enigma. You can’t quite categorize or entirely put your finger on this New York-based brand, but with every season it gets just better… and even more elusive. Chris Peters‘ process behind the autumn-winter 2024 collection is rooted in his newly found love for meditation practice. “I never really understood what meditation did, but it’s given me such a sense of who I am and being really present in the moment,” he said. “On top of that, it made me feel more a part of the universe than I ever have; I feel more complete in the way that I live and the way that I act and the way I make things. A lot of the clothing is sort of an extension of this process that’s given me the confidence and clarity to execute ideas that would’ve been a little overwhelming or kind of scary previously.” Taking his words literally, there was indeed a sense of interconnectedness evident in this collection. A vintage fur stole that used to belong to Peters’s grandmother was attached to a bunch of vintage cotton t-shirts to create a snood of sorts that could work as both a top and an accessory. Elsewhere, a simple jersey tank had an undulating cutout across the rib cage and was shown over a vintage embroidered gown that was draped over the shoulder, its bottom half pulled through the slit. The designer has always been fond of exploring the full physicality of his materials and the possibilities of “wearing” something, but such experiments are never at the expense of beauty or desirability. For instance, take the long jersey t-shirt dress worn with the wide waistband of a pair of white wide legged trousers. Its ease gave way to an unimpeachable elegance. Elegance, in fact, may be the best word for Peters’s latest offering. It was certainly there in the white lace dress put together with pieces of intricately beaded fabric in gradient shades of gray to white. “I would say this piece is definitely representative of this collection,” he noted, describing the process of making it, which included taking apart a beaded jacket (that also used to belong to his grandmother), and re-working and re-beading parts of it, as a meditation in itself.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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