Beatific. Willy Chavarria AW23

February 16, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

In Willy Chavarria‘s fashion show, models of all genders descended the grand staircase at the Cooper Hewitt museum looking absolutely beatific. The first look was an airy silk blouse with a pussy bow, tucked into Chavarria’s characteristically wide silk satin trousers. But it was the second look, a black trench coat with a nipped waist and a dramatically curved lapel collar that half-covered an oversized white gardenia pin and perfectly framed the model’s face that set the tone for the devastating beauty that followed. “Something I’ve been thinking about over the last few shows is really making sure that I’m learning and growing and not just delivering a new season,” Chavarria explained. “Not just thinking ‘okay, I got a new season, a new color palette,’ It’s more like, what is the climate of the world at this given moment?” Unsurprisingly the answer to that question led him to think about protection. “It’s a story of love and protection,” the designer said. A few pieces recalled mourning attire of the late 19th century, especially the slim jacket-dresses with gathered empire waists, and the dress worn by Doria Wood for their performance. The all-black collection was punctuated by shots of white. White shirts were cut from a stiffer textured oxford cloth rather than lighter poplin. They had dramatic oversized bows that held their folds and ties. Italian velvet was cut into a double breasted jacket with a contrasting satin lapel – its shoulders extending past the natural shoulder line but in a gentler curved shape rather than the angular shapes of seasons past. Another velvet jacket was lined in white satin which extended into the contrasting lapels. Although the show had a decided eveningwear focus, there were traditional ready-to-wear pieces in the mix and they retained the romantic mood of the collection. An oversized polo shirt in black satin was tucked into jet-black Dickies (an ongoing collaboration). A black denim jacket had a delicate gather in the back, and a heavyweight work jacket and matching pants were paired with one of the oxford cloth shirts with exaggerated bows at the neck. There was a sort of elegance in Chavarria’s refusal to fully embrace the rules of formal dressing. The offering might have looked similar to this recent Saint Laurent collection, but it’s coming from a totally different place.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Street But Elegant. Luar AW23

February 16, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

On the last day of New York Fashion Week, Luar presented one of the best very collections the city had in offer this season. Commotion descended onto the streets of Brooklyn as editors were forced to jostle with members of the public in order to get an eye on whatever Raul Lopez was about to showcase. But that’s precisely the level of demand that the designer triggers with his fashion moments. This is because he brings something actually new to the table, rolling back the film on his upbringing and transforming those memories into luxurious, refined designs. The first glimpse of the autumn-winter 2023 collection came via Instagram, where the designer shared a photo of an ornate sofa covered in the same plastic wrap used by Latin American households to keep their furniture fresh. It was embroidered with the words “calle pero elegante” (meaning“street but elegant”), which is the quintessence for Lopez’s approach to design. On the runway, a diverse and beautiful mixture of street cast and professional models emerged from a mirrored maze carrying supersized iterations of Luar’s signature Top Handle handbag, dressed in marvelous sculptured coat-dresses with flecks of feathery antennae sprouting from hair. Hulking shirts lurched from their shoulders and leather windbreakers had been cinched in at the waist with diamante-studded belts. Sweaters, bomber jackets, and ball gowns were treated as one and the same; cut into video vixen cocoons with cloaking hoods and tapered waists. The menswear doubled down on that bold, triangular silhouette, with blown-up shoulders on denim jackets and pinstriped blazers giving way to spliced skirts and wide-legged jeans. That’s the energy I missed in most of the New York shows. Luar saved the week with ferocious grace.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Lady Autumn. Altuzarra AW23

February 15, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

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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The Little Price. Thom Browne AW23

February 15, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Thom Browne became the Chairman of CFDA, and his return home – to New York Fashion Week – felt like a promise of some sort of new, creative chapter. But his autumn-winter 2023 collection was a usual affair for the designer: theatrical gestures, cartoon-ish clothes that have more in common with costumes, and an exhausting reinterpretation of the tweed jacket. There was of course a background story for the context. “The Little Prince” was the reference point (Browne heavily resorts to literature lately). The attraction, the designer said backstage afterwards, was “how the story says that children actually see more than adults do. That was really the separation between the more strict tailoring and the more conceptual tailoring – that the kids actually saw things more interesting. Because I like to see things like that.” Browne uses his runways for story telling – “for me the shows are pure creativity, I don’t think about the business and commerce at all,” he said – and he stuck quite close to the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry novella. An aircraft pilot and a little prince stumbled around the downed plane, taking their time, the former in a quilted space suit trimmed in Browne’s signature red, white, and blue stripes, and the latter in a too-big jacket and gold knits that matched his hair. A group of models in intarsia’d silk dresses representing the six planets visited by the Little Prince prior to his meeting the pilot emerged next. They were followed by the “adults” Browne was talking about, in strict but supersized tailoring, who themselves were followed by “kids” in Comme Des Garçons-like deconstructed suits, shirts, and ties layered over precisely fitted sheaths. It was only at the end that Browne deviated from the script. The Little Prince goes missing or perhaps dies for his lost love, but the designer wanted a happy conclusion, and so Precious Lee assumed the form of an angel and rescued our hero from his melancholy.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Classics & Basics. Gabriela Hearst AW23

February 15, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Gabriela Hearst stays in her comfy zone of classics and basics. With long sleeves, high necklines, and midi lengths, the designer’s dresses are the soul of discretion. This season’s version is colorblocked in squares of red, yellow, and black bordered by white. The motif was inspired by Eileen Gray, an early 20th-century architect and furniture designer who was often overshadowed by her male peers. Hearst tends to nominate under-recognized women as seasonal muses – Gray spent her last 30 years living a quiet life. Then, decades after her death a chair of her design that belonged to Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé sold for $28 million, the highest price ever fetched for a piece of modern furniture. There was a real connection between Gray’s vocabulary and Hearst’s today. The furniture designer’s lacquered wood screens provided the template for bags made from interlocking squares of leather. And a famous photo of Le Corbusier in the buff at Gray’s house E-1027 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a large scar visible on his thigh, suggested the scarring effect seen on leather pieces. The slits cut into a burgundy trench flashed Mediterranean blue, while the ones on the burgundy strapless dress were fiery red. A pair of understated finale dresses with cut-outs on the sides from which metal panniers peeked out seemed to nod towards the chrome Gray used in her adjustable E-1027 table. She was the first to use the material, beating both Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe to the punch. Hearst was gesturing toward timelessness with this collection, which at moments felt simply… boring. It was rounded out with the minimal tailoring and robust cashmere knits for women and men that she’s known for, and a new collaboration with Tricker’s, the British shoemaker established in 1829. They’ll look smart with those knit midi dresses.