Photo-Illustration: By The Cut; Photos: Greg Kessler for Gabriela Hearst, by Thom Browne via Getty Images
If every New York Fashion Week had a theme, Tuesday would be “What I Read on Summer Vacation.” Thom Browne chose little prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and recreated the image – a plane crash in the Sahara, planets, a wandering golden-haired boy – in a shed on Manhattan’s West Side. Gabriella Hearst chose Irish architect Eileen Gray’s modern design philosophy with a dash of Thomas Carlyle and advice from her Dharma. And Joseph Altuzarra loved mythology. On the title he left a book with marked pages to illustrate early Greek draughtsmen and prints based on ink and feathers on the guest’s seat.
Altuzarra
Photo: Getty Images
Altuzarra and Brown’s leap to escape to distant times or worlds is linked to refusing to be limited by the present and making clothes that are predictable and safe. “I wanted to meet the era – the austerity, the way the world is – with a lot of joy and a lot of imagination, and not really reality,” Altuzarra said. Avid readers of mythology, he and his team began working on fabrics eight months ago, many of which are inspired by the way ancient people read the magical world – through color, bee, or herbal compositions. He could easily see those details, long dresses with fine knits or jacquards. Some dresses were layered over patterned bodysuits. Basically, the shapes were T-shirts or floating slip dresses.
Altuzarra
Photo: Getty Images
A few designs were more literal, like a beautiful series of strappy dresses on ivory, burnt yellow or lilac jersey. Still, I did not rehash the ancient drama. Altuzarra said he had in mind the sophistication and formality of women’s wear in the 1950s and early ’60s – hence the matching coat and dress look and open-toed parkas (Altuzarra’s signature) with Rorschach-like patterns. He completed the look by accentuating the balance of the parkas, cowled satin with embroidery and a hood or collar trimmed with large faux fur.
“This collection comes from a personal space,” says the designer, admitting that the trend is to follow “real clothes.” But singularity and belief in what one does, especially considering that it is a remarkable resilience and perhaps a way to live in the craft. Also, it’s a big world. Not everyone wants black pants.
That was the point of Thom Browne’s trippy story. “For me, the shows are pure creativity,” he said. “I don’t care about trade and commerce. It’s all about ideas and concepts.
Thom Browne
Photo: Courtesy of Thom Browne
In Saint-Exupéry’s novella, in short, a boy living on an asteroid called B-612 meets a pilot who crashes in the desert. Other characters appear – a businessman, an astronomer, a geographer, a snake (the model Anna Cleveland gets the part, wearing a long, figure-hugging black-gray dress with stacks of sequins wrapped in tulle). There is also the most difficult rose feature – embroidered and 3D black leather bag in brown. He offers his own happy ending to the story: an angel (Precious Lee) saves the boy and the entire cast surrounds the set in pairs to Josh Groban’s version of “You Won’t Walk Alone.” Carousel.
Did you expect Brown Grouch to be? Desperate?
Thom Browne
Photo: Courtesy of Thom Browne
For me, the amazing thing about this show is the scale, the huge size of the models, thanks to their platform shoes (which look like round-heeled watches) and oversized bull shoulders and galactic hairstyles or hats. Some also had extremely long, curling nails that you’d think had been gnawing away somewhere for a century. They live on those fingers and toes alone.
Anyway, Brown made his reputation years ago with a wrinkled face. And everything around us today looks ridiculous, from furniture to food to shoes. Brown’s thick white single brushes (if that’s the right word) look like tanks. I also liked the way, later in the show, deconstructed those big tweeds and pinstripes, breaking them and the suit pieces more streamlined and almost flat-looking abstract dresses. Each of them was wearing a thin dress. Think of a stockman dressmaker’s dummy and you have the image of an underskirt.
“I’m always challenging myself to push,” Brown says of his creative process, and in reference to his scale, “My eyes don’t see men and women. It’s just this beautiful world.”
Thom Browne
Photo: Courtesy of Thom Browne
Hirst’s press notes include a phallic painting, some ideas from her drama, a trip to Ireland, and a long meditation on Gray’s work and influence, which she called her house in the south of France “E-1027.” ” Hearst is not the first designer to mention gray (Karl Lagerfeld was a big fan). Nevertheless, the relationship has implications for Hearst’s pragmatic form of modernism. She wore a plain black coat and pants, a pair of open white shirts, but she moved quickly – the best shirts made of wool or leather, reminiscent of CPO jackets; An all-black leather dress with an ivory sweater; And spare, color-blocked sweater dresses that look like a nod to gray. After all, her collection felt complete.
Gabriela Hearst
Photo: Greg Kessler for Gabriela Hearst
