New York

First Lady Approved. Markarian AW21

| Design & Culture by Ed

On January 20th, the Inauguration Day, Dr. Jill Biden wore Markarian from head-to-toe: a custom cerulean tweed dress and matching coat trimmed with pearls and velvet cuffs. Michelle Obama boosted the profile of many young American designers in her day, and Biden’s choice was a reminder of how deeply women care about what First Ladies wear – and how influential their choices can be. But also, it worked as a statement: supporting small brands and companies is important. That day, Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill experienced ultra-visibility that most young designers only fantasize about. On a Zoom call with Vogue, O’Neill said her social media following doubled instantly, and the e-tailer Moda Operandi reported a 570% spike in traffic to Markarian pieces within 24 hours: overnight, the label went from relative obscurity to international news. And here’s a plot twist. Anyone expecting an autumn-winter lineup of Dr. Biden-esque coats or a deep political statement will be surprised to hear that O’Neill’s inspiration – one she conceptualized months before the election – was actually Ancient Rome. She studied Roman art and mythology in college, and the relaxed glamour of the period (draped tunics, twisting braids, lots of gold jewelry) felt newly relevant in a year of lockdowns. Markarian isn’t a casual brand, so O’Neill’s challenge of late has been creating elegant clothes you can wear out or at home. A brocade robe dress met the criteria, as did a long-sleeved style with a burnout velvet motif of shimmering grapes. Yet many of O’Neill’s customers will be more excited by the pieces that read fantastical, not practical: an LBD with “firework” crystal embellishments or the dreamy, yet unpretentious wedding gowns. With so much unexpected recognition the brand has received, it’s exciting how O’Neill will push her vision forward.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

A Fine Edit. Victoria Beckham AW21

| Design & Culture by Ed

It’s the official start of fashion month, which of course won’t be the usual, hectic marathon we know from the pre-COVID times. Look-books and videos are here to stay, and much less brands will show in the traditional schedule. New York Fashion Week is having a hard time, cropped down to just two days. Many designers are reflecting on the way they used to work and put sustainability as their main priority. Victoria Beckham‘s autumn-winter 2021 is a fine edit of both pre- and main collection. It’s all about unmistakable wardrobe essentials with versatile intentions – meaning easy day-to-night transition pieces. After the financial shockwaves of the epidemic, this season marked Beckham’s pared-down foot forward in general. “I sell clothes,” Beckham told Vogue. “I don’t sell so many shoes and bags that my collections are just about ticking a fashion box. They’re about creating clothes that people want to wear and can really wear. That’s why commerciality is not a swear word to me.” The look-book she released today demonstrated what a consolidated Victoria Beckham woman looks like. Rather than introducing new complex cuts or ambitious experimentation, familiar VB garments bore testimony to a certain studiousness: they’ve been simplified and perfected. Prairie and flapper dresses were streamlined, her slinky long-sleeved everyday dresses were recut for a t-shirt-like ease, and tailoring looked as optimized for comfort as it must have felt. For anyone hankering for more bling-bling, there were those knee-high silver sparkle boots and some rather subversive floral prints. In one instance, the latter clashed in a mad floaty dress that evoked some of Beckham’s more directional collections. “We never want anything to be boring,” as she put it. The morale of this collection is that less is more, if the quality and design is at its best. “People ask me if I think people will buy less when we come out of lockdown, and I hope they will! We want to sell clothes, don’t get me wrong, but I hope people will want to invest in pieces they really want to wear. Buy a piece and get your wear out of it. Don’t just buy it for one season,” Beckham concluded.

“Live” collage by Edward Kanarecki.

His & Hers. The Row AW21

| Design & Culture by Ed

Seeing both The Row womenswear and menswear in one collection makes so much sense. Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsens‘ autumn-winter 2021 collection is like the full picture of their luxe minimalism world, now shared by her and him. The designers decided to modify their showing schedule, skipping New York Fashion Week altogether and showing in January and June. One of the reasons is logistics and sustainability. Both the women’s and men’s collections are rooted in minimal tailoring and they share materials across them; these include the double-felted wool of outerwear, wool flannel for suits, and a textural knit that they call fur cashmere, all of them subtly luxurious. Of course, the collection is delightful – and feels like detoxicating palette cleanse after all the couture fantasy we’ve experienced last week. Their autumn suiting is strong across both genders. The women’s jackets come with removable shoulder pads, as does a mock-neck, midi-length cashmere dress. Alongside the tailoring, they showed wrapped shapes, emphasizing comfort and warmth. A male model looks practically cocooned in a three-piece fur cashmere set. Amid the oversized proportions and the swaddled forms, a button-down with short three-quarter-length sleeves worn with washed linen wool pants that taper at the ankles stands out. On the accessories front sturdy burnished-leather rain boots in a range of lengths look like top sellers in the making. They’ve also added a nylon tote to their handbag offering. Comfort and practicality have become important talking points in the last year as the pandemic has impacted the industry in so many ways. The Olsens are taking on those conversations – and the one about collection timing, too – but they’re doing so in their usual elegant, refined way.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Power Move. Area Couture SS21

| Design & Culture by Ed

You really couldn’t wish for a better ending of an incredible (digital) haute couture week. Saying that this was Area‘s debut couture collection is quite a false statement, since each collection coming from New York-based Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg is a couture-level fantasy. The designers ditched the spring-summer 2021 ready-to-wear schedule, making a bold power move not only for themselves, but for American fashion (same can be said of Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry!). Area’s bold 14-look couture collection showcases their range of talent (think showgirl crystals and outlandish silhouettes combined with technically ambitious tailoring), and their lookbook, which stars Precious Lee and Yasmin Wijnaldum, is a sort of statement of intent. This is most certainly not old-world couture, with its strictly sample size casting. “Difference for us is a positive thing,” Fogg told Vogue. Lee opens the lookbook in a black smoking, featuring extravagant metalwork trimming the cuffs. The designers, who are catholic in their references, said they were looking at the coin embroideries of Berber peoples for the jacket’s embellishments, as well as for a pair of delicate and quite dreamy dresses made from thousands of individually hand-finished circles of organza. The rib cage pieces, embroidered with Swarovski crystals in India and assembled in New York, look destined for the Grammys or concert stages, once IRL events ramp back up again. Cake dresses whose tiers are fashioned from duchesse satin fully panniered in tulle do take their cues, Panszczyk said, from the couture of Emanuel Ungaro, Yves Saint Laurent and Cristobal Balenciaga, but the Area designers constructed them so they are open on one side. Wijnaldum flashes skin from her shoulders to the crystal-encrusted tops of the black leather platform clogs that Area will be selling with their third ready-to-wear drop later this year. This couture season has shown us that some of the designers are ready to challenge the system and are capable of reflecting the times we are living in. But seeing the new generation taking couture to new dimensions and redefining it is what I’m looking forward to the most!

“Live” collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Dress Up With Ease. Proenza Schouler Pre-Fall 2021

| Design & Culture by Ed

My first ever “live” collage, which I’ve created having TikTok on my mind… just playing around and checking out the app everybody’s buzzing about! Search @designandculturebyed, because I might stay there for good! Still, I think I will always feel much more confident on Instagram.

Proenza Schouler boys continue to work with soft minimalism in the era of WFH. But for pre-fall 2021, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough try to elevate the stay-at-home style. According to McCollough, the line-up “celebrates the joy of dressing up, while injecting a strong sense of ease.” A halter dress in fine gauge crochet with graphic stripes tracing the neckline captures the vibe. Other hands-on touches include the deep lengths of fringe on knit skirts and asymmetrically placed mismatched buttons on closely fitted, unstructured blazers worn with puddling bell-bottom pants. In another look, the designers used a gold chain to gather the hem of a dress to its midriff, looping the fabric through hoops to create a decorative slimming detail at the waist. It’s all good, but I wish most of it didn’t feel like a moodboard filled with Phoebe Philo’s Céline and new Bottega. In a normal year, these maxi, tank-dresses would be destined for summer weddings and other special occasions. Nobody knows if those dates will hold, if the vaccine will be widely available by then or if we’ll still be waiting. That’s a lot of uncertainty to wrestle with for pretty much everybody in the industry, going forward into 2021. Still, dressing up for an attitude boost is never a bad idea, even while staying at home, so why not stay hopeful.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.