Tactility. Eckhaus Latta SS23

September 12, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

The vibrant Eckhaus Latta spring-summer 2023 show took place in one of those lush and beautiful gardens that you can’t believe actually exist in the middle of the city. As models walked out in geometric metallic knit tops that glistened in the sun like tinsel, their faces shiny like doughnuts (turns out it was a peel-off face mask), it was clear the buoyant mood felt before the presentation wasn’t just on account of people running into each other after not seeing them for a while, but it was what Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta actually wanted everyone to feel. “I think this season we felt rather optimistic and wanted that to be expressed within the clothing,” Eckhaus said backstage after the show. “I feel like there’s been this general sense of apathy that we, our community, or just our friends have been feeling,” Latta added, picking up the beat immediately. “This is kind of an attempt to be like, ‘It is still chaos. The world still feels a little fucked, but let’s have fun.’” There was joy in Hari Nef’s cream slip dress, adorned with embroidered threads covered in beads that click-clacked this way and that as she walked through the grass. Musician Ethel Cain, wearing a proper ecru cropped bouclé jacket (and matching wrap-around skort) with a “Fear no plague” tattoo right in the middle of her sternum, was cheeky. No, wait, actually cheeky was Jacob Bixenman’s burgundy bubble polo shirt, worn with what looked to be a one-leg pant that exposed exactly half of the model’s buttocks. Silhouettes were slightly oversized and gave the illusion of being askew; attention was paid to the back of the garments as much as the front with image placement, interesting pockets, and other details. “It’s a sense of wanting that fullness,” Eckhaus said. “I feel like we’re so accustomed to images now – the front image – but clothing is 360, and we wanted to have that juxtaposition of what you’re experiencing on the front of the body versus the back, having it feel more rounded or having different types of energy that move back and forth.” Every look appealed to the senses, with textures that were begging to be touched and played with, like cool netting turned into a long dress with a straight neck and ruched detail on the front, or floral-embroidered trousers with what looked to be a built-in skirt on top and tassels running down the sides. “We wanted a lot of tactility in the collection with the textiles that we’re using across the board,” Eckhaus said. “Whether it was how images were placed on clothing, how materials transformed, like in the knotted pieces and the bubble fabrics, but not getting too – as we always joke – ‘project-y,’” he said, laughing, before adding, “But then I feel like, if it does get project-y, whatever. We’ve been doing this for a while, and we feel really confident in the times when we do have those gestures.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Magical Realism. Altuzarra SS23

September 11, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

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.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Fly Like A Butterfly. Collina Strada SS23

September 11, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

At Collina Strada, Hillary Taymour was in a celebratory mood (like many designers in New York seem to be). Hari Nef opened the show, wearing a dainty, lace-trimmed slip over wide-leg plaid trousers, her arms fluttering up and down like so many butterfly wings. Bedazzled on the front was the phrase “Got milkweed?,” an environmentally friendly take on the classic Got Milk? ad campaign of the ’90s, which also happened to be the name of the collection. Milkweed is the only plant monarch caterpillars will eat. Fittingly, the show took place at Brooklyn Greenway, a former cemetery turned monarch butterfly preserve that’s not open to the public. Taymour’s signature playfulness and Y2K influence were certainly present, but there was also a tender touch (some of the models wore extra-long braids that dragged on the floor behind them as they walked, like a Rapunzel that never had to cut her hair off to find freedom) and a mix of romanticism that resulted in some truly elegant eveningwear options. A floral lace–crocheted long-sleeve gown was worn underneath a structured bustier minidress with an exaggerated balloon skirt—a fantastic continuation of the exploration of panniers and bustles that Taymour has embarked on for the past few seasons. “I just feel like now that we’re a ‘trend,’ I really wanted to push it and be like, ‘We’re not just [sportswear],’” said Taymour after the show. “I can make these dresses for you and elevate it.” A carnation pink dress made from deadstock chiffon that hung from bent-wire flowers that attached to matching airbrushed pink breasts and nipples proved she could do both. She added, “I just wanted to push myself to do that.” Big cargos came in hand-drawn floral prints, crushed velvet, and even organza. Decorated jeans were part of a collaboration with Unspun, a company that 3D-scans the body in order to create made-to-order denim. She also debuted a collaboration with Virón featuring shoes made of upcycled materials, including ruffled velvet oxfords and chunky silver metallic boots, and a collaboration with Melissa on supercool and weird puffy sandals, which she paired with tiny satin ballerina-style socks that perfectly encapsulated the spirit of the collection. In the show notes, Taymour describes being inspired by “the butterfly’s symbolic cycle of life, death, and rebirth,” but with clothes like these, Collina Strada will thrive forever.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Sensuality. Proenza Schouler SS23

September 11, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

The Proenza Schouler boys are delving into new territory this season – which, by the way, marks the brand’s 20th anniversary (yes… time flies). Arca, the trans musician from Venezuela, opened their show in a loose black tank whose hem was pulled over one shoulder, revealing white silk fringe over her bare midriff and a bubble skirt. From there Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez explored Latin flourishes, like flamenco ruffles peeking from the hems of generously cut bell-bottoms, polka dots of varying sizes decorating twist-front dresses, and piped bell sleeves that extended past the knees. In the past, they’ve tended to cite travel adventures or their tight circle of girlfriends as influences. But after the show, Hernandez wanted to talk about his roots. “I leaned into my Latin identity; I’m Cuban,” he said. The models wore their hair slicked back wet, and their skin was dewy. They looked as if they just stepped off a dance floor or climbed out of the sea. With videos of waterfalls projected onto the marble walls of the venue, the collection felt closer to nature than last season’s chic austerity. Crochet separates, nipple-freeing sheer lace shirts and dresses, and compact knit pieces that seemed to take their cues from swimwear looked like the work of designers who’d like to hold onto a summer feeling for as long as they can. “We’re just talking about the idea of energy, of joy, of sensuality; these things that sometimes we feel are lost in our lives, to be honest, and we’re trying to find a way to get them back,” McCollough said. Twenty years is no small milestone. How do you sustain energy and joy when you’ve been at something that long? The designers tapped into it this season by working with a community of weavers in Bolivia. “We did it all via email and conversations over the phone,” said Hernandez. “We were able to make four pieces with them and employ them for six months. They were so happy.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

New York. Fendi Resort 2023

September 10, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Fendi got the New York Fashion Week rolling with a bang. For over a month, the Italian brand has been communicating that it’s planning to hit the Big Apple for a big occasion: the Baguette’s 25th birthday. And what made the eternal it-bag so in-demand for the last two decades? Of course, Sex & The City, the most New York show of all the New York shows. “It was almost like a character,” Kim Jones said. “So I thought let’s do the show here, and let’s add in a few curveballs as we always do.” Sarah Jessica Parker, who sat front row with Kate Moss, Kim Kardashian and Lily Allen, approved the project as the IRL Carrie Bradshaw. She was definitely making a mind-list of her favourite looks for the second season of And Just Like That. That Jones is a prodigious collaborator has been well documented, but the match-ups he orchestrated for the celebratory resort 2023 collection were particularly inspired. Tiffany & Co. was brought in to provide the baguettes – as in diamond baguettes. The double-F logo on the Tiffany blue croc Baguette carried by Bella Hadid was pavéd in the precious stones, and the electric colour of her silk jumpsuit was 100% Tiffany blue.

Another quintessential New York addition: the Marc Jacobs collaboration. Jacobs’s section riffed on his recent collections with block letter intarsias spelling out FendiRoma rather than his own logo on everything from tracksuits and trucker jackets and matching jeans to an oversize terry robe. The faux fur XXL hats, which we’ve seen the last time on his autumn-winter 2012 runway, wowed the audience just like they did a decade ago. “I called Marc up and asked him if he wanted to design a collection for Fendi. I haven’t been involved at all,” Jones explained the collab. “We worked side by side during fittings. We were doing ours, he was doing his. I’m looking very much at 1997, and I think Marc’s is fresh and now.” Jones was after more of a feeling. “I was thinking about when I was first coming to New York and we would go out clubbing,” he said. Hence the irreverent, high/low mix of sequins and utility jackets, or a shearling sherpa and a mini. He meant what he said about utility. Even beanies and gaiters came with built-in Baguettes, as did many of the garments, those shearling sherpas most temptingly. Surprisingly, it all felt very early Sex & The City and Patricia Field style. For the kicker, Linda Evangelista, who is the current face of Fendi, glided out, resplendent in an opera cape, with a sterling silver Baguette bag in the crook of her arm. Jacobs, who joined Jones and Venturini Fendi for a bow, encouraged everyone to stand up – not that the crowd needed any convincing.