What Shall I Wear? Tory Burch SS23

September 15, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Tory Burch‘s renaissance keeps on giving. Spring-summer 2023 collection is yet another gorgeous line-up coming from this New York-based, well-established designer. For context, Burch wrote a new forward to a just-released re-edition of a book by Claire McCardell, the mid-century designer known for easy-on, easy-off dresses when high fashion was still a made-to-measure business. A year ago Burch was talking up McCardell’s designs and the ways in which they served to “unencumber” women. Something clicked, and resulted in an on-going creative dialogue between two American, female designers. “I started thinking about when I first moved to New York in the ’90s,” said Burch backstage of her fashion show. “Even then, women didn’t want to be restricted, so we spent a lot of time developing fabrics that had all kinds of stretch and pieces that you could wear in different ways. I wanted it to be really focused.” The models skimmed in flat slingbacks or mules – “if the shoe hurts, give it away,” is a McCardellism. They wore a modular wardrobe of fine gauge knits, double layer skirts (the fitted upper part covering a sheer lower part that hit the mid-calf), or tube skirts over capri-length leggings. These looks didn’t obscure or deny a woman’s form, but nor did they enhance it necessarily. The best way to put it is that they were true to a woman’s body, and they exuded a certain confidence because of it. Tossed over the top could be a boxy man’s blazer, or a gold leather jacket, or a tech-y fabric raincoat. The effect was streamlined and simple, but not quite minimal. There was too much color and, when the evening looks emerged at the end, too much ornament to qualify for that. Burch’s more formal outfits combined a tunic-length hourglass-shaped sleeveless top in suiting fabric with a soft lace-edged slip, or layered a sheer panel over a slip dress that could be cut from sari fabric or embellished with mirror paillettes. McCardell’s reissued book is called “What Shall I Wear? The What, Where, When, and How Much of Fashion“. She didn’t have much to say about denim, but we will say this, Burch’s jeans – high-waisted and faded, with the hint of a crease down the front – are the best of the season so far.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Hot Versatility. Peter Do SS23

September 15, 2022September 15, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Peter Do has delivered one of the most convincing, coherent and desirable collections of this entire New York Fashion Week. If Helmut Lang, the designer, showed collections in 2022, then this might have been the effect – it’s this good. What gave Do this sort of new confidence is the official launch of menswear. The spring-summer 2023 show was opened with a men’s look: the double breasted jacket fastened with a single button over a white shirt, both with a large triangle cutout exposing a flash of muscled back, over a pair of full satin pants with open side seams that tapered at the ankle over those signature boots. The model was Lee Jeno of the K-Pop group NCT who has 3.4 million followers on Instagram. Celebrity influencers will play their part, but more important: Do’s exacting, even methodical approach is equal to his ambition. As with his women’s, tailoring is central to Do’s aesthetic. In fact, the offering is more or less unisex, in addition to being quite sexy. “During the fitting process we try everything on both, 80% is pretty genderless,” he explained. For him, for her, for them: over the course of 60 looks – this was one of New York’s bigger shows – Do set out his vision. It involves deconstruction in the form of suits slit open at the hem to reveal their inner workings, minimal leaning ornamentation like tone-on-tone suture stitches over seams, and the two- or three-in-one versatility that he’s built into his work from the start. Waistbands can be adjusted to accommodate different sized hips and clever pleated skirts are attached to belts so they can be open and closed, almost like curtains. Shirts can play it straight, meaning buttoned from collar to hem, or they can be worn wrapped around the waist for the undone look he favored here. Another novelty, this one on the sustainable tip: a tank and pants in what looked like patent leather were made from discarded shrimp shells, a food industry waste product.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Ukrainian Heritage. Bevza SS23

September 15, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Svitlana Bevza of the label Bevza is one of the more than 10 million Ukrainians who fled their homes when Russia invaded their country over six months ago, only nine days after Bevza showed her autumn-winter 2022 collection in New York. After a month of staying at her home in Kyiv with air sirens ringing, she fled with her children for two days by bus, leaving her husband behind. (Men between 18 and 60 in Ukraine have mandatory military conscription.) Bevza first went to the Czech Republic, and a month and a half later, she settled in a small town in Portugal, where she currently lives. Since then, Bevza has only returned to Ukraine twice, for less than a week at a time. The designer’s emotional experience, a combination of alienation and perseverance, culminated in a packed show held in the stark interiors at the empty assay office of 30 Wall Street. At the start of the show, a projector showed a massive yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flag as a recording of her voice played, calling for a moment of silence for Ukrainian lives lost during the war.

Bevza has always been fiercely proud of her heritage. Her brand, one of the largest in her native Kyiv, is built on subtly weaving craft-driven traditional Ukrainian motifs into her minimalist designs. There were those symbolic moments throughout this season, including the hair, which was done in a Cossack style with a singular sharp bang cutting across the forehead, and traditional Ukrainian singing spliced with modern beats by a Ukrainian DJ. (Bevza’s show was produced by an entirely Ukrainian team; fellow Kyiv designer and LVMH nominee Anton Belinskiy styled it.) Those signature traditional Ukrainian embroideries were evident. The bust of one icy blue slip dress featured a knit of traditional Ukrainian embroidery – an unlikely but ultimately beautiful combination. A keptaryk, a traditional Ukraine vest fastened by knots, was produced in a beautiful thick navy wool and paired with low-slung vegan leather trousers. There was a nod to war too: a bulletproof vest, a longtime motif for the label, was fashioned into a curve-skimming, floor-length dress.

Bevza also used the runway as her platform to showcase one of the biggest issues affecting Ukraine right now: wheat. The theme was already baked into the setting: Large wheeled trays with loaves of bread dotted the corners of the space. Ukraine is considered the breadbasket of Europe, and wheat is embedded within the country’s customs. “When you’re making a proposal to marry somebody, you bring bread with you. When you’re going to somebody’s new home, you should always bring bread,” says Bevza. “Even when you’re saying goodbye to the dead, you used to bring bread.” Currently, there is a crisis: fields of wheat are being destroyed by Russian missiles, and that’s predicted to have harrowing effects on the world’s wheat supply for months to come. The importance of the grain was translated through the use of wheat spikelets. Even before the war, Bevza produced spikelet necklaces and earrings. This time, that golden spikelet necklace was blackened, symbolizing the burning of the wheat fields. Silk skirts—paired with itty-bitty bandeau tops – boasted an elegant hourglass silhouette thanks to how the fabric was gathered at the sides, a nod to how Ukrainian women centuries ago would gather wheat in the fields. Ukraine can be a tricky place for designers to define themselves; some heavily use Ukrainian traditional motifs in their designs, and others opt to go their own way sans any reference to their roots. Both choices are of course fine, but Bevza possesses the stellar ability to seamlessly translate her homeland – and its crisis – through a contemporary and, in this season’s case, very strong lens.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Empowerment. Gabriela Hearst SS23

September 14, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

The runway photos tell only part of the story about Gabriela Hearst’s spring-summer 2023 show. Just beyond the picture frame, the runway was lined with members of the Resistance Revival Chorus. They sang “This Joy,” a gospel song written by Pastor Shirley Caesar. Joy has been the buzzword of the week; few designers have failed to mention it. But only Hearst booked this choir, and the singers more than delivered on the song’s promise. It was a feel-great moment, made more so by the diverse group of friends that Hearst cast, from the former president of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards to the young climate activist Xiye Bastida to the anti-toxic shock syndrome advocate Lauren Wasser. Hearst has woven female empowerment into her brand DNA. She likes being a connector, hooking up one woman on a mission with another, and in the process side-stepping the male dominated systems that disadvantage us. This season she made those intentions more explicit in the clothes. The opening series of dresses were constructed of black jersey fixed with molded gold leather whose ruffled raw edges extended beyond the shape of the torso. These nodded in the direction of the Yves Saint Laurent gold breastplates made by Claude Lalanne, but the vibe here was more Athena, goddess of wisdom and war. Later on came a pair of knit pieces inset with crocheted segments in fiery shades of red and orange, and these too conjured thoughts of warrior women who dared to approach the flame. Heart’s friend Cecile Richards’s book is called Make Trouble, don’t forget.

The collection was a showcase for similarly fine handicrafts. Soft ruched leather for a pair of looks worn by the ’90s stars Kirsty Hume and Carolyn Murphy; three-dimensional gold thread embroideries on an ivory dress and well-tailored suit; silk ladder stitch knit dresses as gossamer as spiderwebs. A gold version worn with a matching poncho was especially striking. Hearst came out for her bow wearing a cap stitched with the logo of Sound Future. Her friend Brandy Schultz, who walked in the show, is the co-founder of the non-profit, which seeks to “measure, discover, and deploy meaningful environmental solutions for the live event industry.” Fashion is in need of a meaningful environmental solution. It’s a long way from positive intent to measurable change, but Hearst is making the right connections.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Spikey. Area AW22

September 14, 2022September 14, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

The opening look of Area‘s first ever runway collection was quite a message. A cage dress made from bands of Japanese selvedge denim and covered in jumbo spikes around the body, sleeves and neck, was an immediate plea to be left alone, but worn with flat sandals, you could almost imagine the practical implications of wearing such a garment out in the real world – perhaps to take the train by oneself late at night? If it wasn’t obvious that underneath the spikes there was a wearable sporty denim dress, then the second look, a bustier with a sweetheart necklace and a matching miniskirt also made of denim, and featuring the season’s “folded bondage bow,” as it was named it in the show notes, finished spelling it out. At Area there is constant exploration of the liminal space between aggression and rebellion and making beautiful clothes that sell. “For me it’s always been so hard to understand that there’s this separation between stuff that you sell and stuff that you dream of,” designer Piotrek Panszczyk said after the show. “And it’s really about connecting the dots and showing people how they’re related to each other, and why both are really important.” And so if you looked beyond the jumbo spikes and the folded pyramid elements and the fantastic sculptural pieces that are Area’s signature, you’d notice the sporty jersey track pants with multicolor Swarovski details down the side worn with an easy sleeveless tank with a cutout detail at the chest, or the silver velvet jeans worn with a matching bustier. You’d also spot a series of cocktail dresses that were classic in their execution, including a purple mini dress with a pleated detail at the sweetheart neckline (“Purple is this kind of religious color, there’s something very priest-like about it, so we wanted to embrace that and twist it and show it in a different way,” Panszczyk explained). Area also announced a collaboration with Sergio Rossi for this season, who did several pairs of high heeled strappy sandals as well as a pair of flats. This certainly isn’t my favourite Area collection (feels too overworked), but big thumbs up for all the experimenting.