Woman

Flamboyance Revived. S.S. Daley SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

S.S. Daley kicked off the unexpectedly good and brisky London Fashion Week (pardon my review delay – been busy for a couple of days!). This is Steven Stokey-Daley‘s first full womenswear collection, and it’s clear from the very first look that the designer knows what he wants to bring to this very overfilled table with his offering. The collection was inspired with the life of the British painter Gluck, who presented as a man in the 1920s and ’30s, and Constance Spry, the hugely fashionable high society florist, who was one of her many lovers. What makes this collection standout is that it didn’t read historically labored or archaic, but gracefully conveyed the idea of dandy-ish flamboyance, a very British thing, and quite rare to see in women’s collections. Spring-summer 2025 was a contemporary combination of Stokey-Daley’s English handcrafty talent, his spirited tailoring, and quirk for off-kilter details (think the silk floral side-ripple to his signature Oxford bags). “People are asking me, ‘why are you doing womenswear right now?’” the designer stated. “It’s like, the economy’s crashed, everyone’s struggling. But I think there’s one simple answer. I began this brand in a pandemic, and it does feel like quite a bleak time in the universe right now. But I’ve had an idea simmering for a while. And London’s a resilient place.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Femininity, Dissected. Tory Burch SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

This season, Tory Burch dissects the contrasts of femininity. It can be lady-like and sweet. The other second it can turn into something more tough and sharp. Her spring-summer 2025 collection felt like a dynamic clash between these different notions. The most unexpected pieces were the skirts with malleable wire waistbands, which arced out, rather than gripped the midsection – surprising because the waist is rarely an area that women want to add volume to. Marc Jacobs orbits around a similar idea lately. In contrast, the narrow flecked wool pants with full breaks over chic peep toe pumps looked elegant with both shrunken quilted wool and silk jackets and traditional wrap jacket styles. The show closed with a trio of looks combining sleeveless “muscle” tees and softly draped and ruffled asymmetric jersey chiffon skirts that lived up to Burch’s “power and grace” concept.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Sacrum & Profanum. Colleen Allen SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

Emerging brands like Colleen Allen keep New York Fashion Week’s heart beating. But lets note that Allen can be hardly called an emerging designer with an impressive portfolio of working at some of New York’s finest institutions: Raf Simons’s Calvin Klein and The Row. But these two aren’t defining her aesthetically, as Colleen has proved in her debut collection and also in her sophomore season. Spring-summer 2025 offering is all about a play with lightness and draping. You’ve got very sensual, sheer numbers, and then you’ve got stunning, velvet-y drapings that hug the body. Some of the pieces – like the ankle-length, white dress with turtleneck – have a pastoral, even clerical feel about them, but then then the ecclesiastical regality is twisted and subverted with sexy lace of hemlines and body-revealing slits of blouses and jackets. It’s also worth noting that Colleen has a brilliant sense of color: just look the the opening shade of tangerine. Retailers, here’s a brand to buy into.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Austere Chic. Phoebe Philo Edit 3

| Design & Culture by Ed

Phoebe Philo is back with her Edit 3 collection, which launched today in form of first, capsule delivery. The latest, autumnal offering isn’t distant from Philo’s earlier design ventures at her eponymous, highly elusive label, but surely does deliver a sense of sophisticated chic – and style. Those are two things that one could hardly navigate anywhere during the on-going New York Fashion Week. But in case of Philo, there’s also the feeling of rough austerity that makes her designs look commanding and important. And distinct. The coats with detachable capes and leather jackets are investment pieces for many, many years ahead, just like white, crisp shirting and chunky, black sweater with leather inserts on the sleeves. The designer lets in some experimental twist to a tie-dyed dress that seems to be constructed out of two sweatshirts. One might say that the brand and its designer seem to be stuck in one place – many items from the edit are slightly reworked versions of garments from previous collections. But in the world of ever-changing and endlessly-generated content, content and content, the sense of continuity that Phoebe channels is truly comforting.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Real, Raw, Sexy. Eckhaus Latta SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

I’ve said it before, I will say it again: the Eckhaus Latta duo have and bring what Helmut Lang had and brought to New York at the turn of millennium. Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta‘s clothes are sexy without trying too hard; they have a sense of style that’s real; and they have that raw honesty about them. Their spring-summer 2025 collection is so far one of the biggest highlights of New York Fashion Week – and has actual clothes one wants to wear (I do!). Eckhaus Latta is a go-to brand for not-so-average knits, and they remained a standout in the latest offering. There’s also the element of playfulness about the labels’ pieces. They invite you to wear them whatever way you want. “I think both of us are very drawn to that sample sale vibe of, ‘there’s something that looks like a pile of rope on a hanger,’” Latta explains. “We’re like, ‘What is it?’ Obviously we have to deal with the idea of hanger appeal, but I think for us, letting these things have a kind of mutability and playfulness, like the scrunches in all these different ways, feels inherent to our curiosity.” Another big thumbs-up goes to the lookbook imagery where you really see how the clothes work on (and with) the body. Of course, there was a fashion show – or rather, a fashion happening – where friends of Eckhaus Latta had dinner and later did an impromptu runway parade. It looked genuinely fun. This brand seems to be one of the few in New York that knows what’s up.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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