Frenckenberger is a label self-described as “loungewear,” not necessarily for its presentation but for the respite it provides. Though their silhouettes range from sweeping cardigans to sporty sweaters, Frenckenberger’s through line is a devotion to material—the words “pure cashmere” is synonymous with their brand. Based just outside Zurich, designers Nathalie Schönenberger and Terry-Ann Frencken seek a purity of spirit with their designs, combining haute couture style with contemporary polish.
Frenckenberger’s knits are particularly lightweight, making them an excellent choice for layering with coats, shirts or other knits. While cashmere conjures a level of formal luxury, these pieces are wholly unfussy. Frenckenberger is a line that pairs well with jeans, boots and an open attitude.
Frenckenberger’s FW24 collection is titled Vernissage, in reference to a private viewing of paintings before they are exhibited to the public. The collection was made in collaboration with Swiss sculptor, Sylvie Fleury—a multimedia artist known for her sleek juxtapositions of pop art and minimalism.
Frenckenberger’s FW24 collection may read as effortless, however the designs are the result of copious research. A specialized part of their team is dedicated solely to developing new cashmere fabrics through a combination of exploratory knitting, felting and sewing techniques. This core innovation sets Frenckenberger apart as the studio evolves quickly with each new iteration.
Rather than boasting of himself as a designer, Gareth Casey simply says he is an “architect” and “maker of things.” Given the structural nature of his fabrics and forms, the former is an apt descriptor. At his small Parisian atelier, Casey Casey, he builds upon the soft romance of French tailoring with modern and earthy influences. For Casey Casey’s latest collection, Gareth presents exceptional shirting, pants and coats in a palette of navy, chocolate and just a hint of lipstick red.
In designing his line, Gareth brings his wearer closer to the earth through fabrics that emulate the natural world. He does so through nubby, fleece-like cashmere, the aforementioned paper cotton, and a notable selection of cotton velvets. Unlike its silken cousins, cotton velvets are a dry-touch varietal lower on the shine factor, making them an excellent choice for a subdued, but elevated look.
If there is anything Casey Casey is best known for, it’s the shirting. Harnessing classical tailoring silhouettes, Gareth reinterprets the style through his relaxed sensibility for a be-anywhere-do-anything piece. His material of choice is paper cotton, presented in a range of polished and crisp finishes that are not only durable but sing against the skin.
It’s perhaps unsurprising that Gareth’s free time is spent close to the earth as well. Often, you can find him tending to the monastic grounds of Le Prieuré d’Orsan, a former medieval nunnery turned modern garden an hour south of Bourges. Amongst the rows of cornflowers and cascading walnut trees, Gareth reconnects with his core inspiration.
“It’s not about being flashy or surprising. It’s just about: ‘Oh my God, that feels so good.’ ”
As the seasons shift, so do we. We break out our knits, clip back our gardens and tuck away the lighthearted serveware of our al fresco summer dining. Autumn is a time of change, and a beautiful one at that. As the temperatures drop and we cozy up inside our homes, doesn’t it make sense to bring the panache of color inside as well? Enter tones of bruno, giallo and rosso from Stamperia Bertozzi: a celebration of fall as nourishing and integral as the meals they accompany.
While porcelain looms large in our collective consciousness as a precious commodity, there is a reason this material has been a go to for dishware. Both delicate and durable, it resists wear and tear while being microwaveable and dishwasher-safe. The varietal favored by Bertozzi, Limoges porcelain, boasts a high kaolin content, a silicate mineral with a high melting point responsible for both the bright white color and hardiness of its material after firing.
As the seasons shift, so do we. We break out our knits, clip back our gardens and tuck away the lighthearted serveware of our al fresco summer dining. Autumn is a time of change, and a beautiful one at that. As the temperatures drop and we cozy up inside our homes, doesn’t it make sense to bring the panache of color inside as well? Enter tones of bruno, giallo and rosso from Stamperia Bertozzi: a celebration of fall as nourishing and integral as the meals they accompany.
“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
The art of making textiles has long been intertwined with the art of storytelling. From Flemish tapestries and Scottish tartan to Ghanaian Kente and Chinese Jin, histories and mythologies alike have been captured across cloth. The ubiquity of this medium comes down to access: handlooms and sewing apparati were among the first technologies developed. For designer Chinar Farooqui, the textiles in her studio hold the same significance as those woven centuries ago. More than just decoration or symbology, they are a way of shaping the future by simultaneously preserving the past.
Chinar’s label, Injiri, was born from a desire to highlight and celebrate the many textile traditions of her native India. Both her fabrics and garments are made in-studio by local artisans with expertise in the needed techniques. The approach is intense and studied, spanning simple stitching and hand-finishing to complex methods such as jamdani weaving and soof embroidery.
The root of Injiri’s inspiration for this season comes from “The Song of Life,” a short story written by children’s book illustrator Kavita Singh Kale in collaboration with the studio. The story calls on many motifs from Ladakh in Northern India, a remote territory nestled amongst the peaks of the Karakoram Mountain Range. This region is often called “Little Tibet” for its rugged geography and prominent Buddhist monasteries. It is not uncommon to see prayer flags fluttering over the herds of wild sheep and antelope roaming its landscape.
The raw beauty of this region sets the stage for the story, wherein Mother Earth uses her loom to weave the mountains, the rivers, the animals and eventually, her own daughter. Wrapped in silk and cotton, this daughter would wander the landscape and delight in the wonder of the earth, smelling flowers, singing with birds and dancing over mountains. Her step is as light and joyous as the method of her creation. Through Injiri’s inherent playfulness, Chinar invites us all to greet our days just the same.
Often thrown around as a shorthand for luxury, high-quality cashmere is a material unabashedly worthy of its accolades. It’s warming, lightweight and famously soft against the skin. It can be washed, brushed or felted; spun lofty for additional plush or spun tightly for smoothness; dyed in a kaleidoscope of color or left to its naturally tawny hues. Like all woolen fibers, the possibilities are as endless as they are tried and true… long since perfected by Kashmir and Mongolia since the 3rd century BCE.
Cashmere fiber is found only in the downy winter undercoat of specific goats, such as the Alasan or Wuzhumuqin breeds. While these goats can be raised anywhere, the most preciously soft roam the pastures of Inner Mongolia. The combination of high elevation and harsh temperature fluctuations has evolved the species of this region to naturally adapt a “double fleece” to insulate them from the elements. The upper layer is a mat of rugged wool that forms a waterproof guard for the soft, inner layer of warming down used in cashmere yarn—a duality that keeps the goats comfortable in all seasons.
The process of harvesting cashmere is laborious, but necessarily so for the wellbeing of the animals. The fibers are gently brushed from the undercoat by hand, then sorted by thickness, length and color before being spun. The longer and thicker the fiber, the more durability in the resulting yarn. The lighter the color, the easier it is to dye. Given the insulating properties of their origin, cashmere weaves are much lighter than their wool counterparts. A great piece of cashmere can, and will, last a lifetime with proper care.
Alonpi’s own commitment to cashmere is nothing short of devotion: this is a brand that has been dedicated to the art of softness for over 40 years. They prioritize the truest, softest cashmere found in the coats of Inner Mongolian goats. Their yarns, woven on site at their workshop in Biella, Italy, are woven into ponchos and wraps that are as lush as they are timeless. They cheekily suggest that the quality of their cashmere is not just due to the source of the fiber, but the location of their studio. Each and every bolt is washed in the headwaters of the Alps before becoming a garment, a mythical ritual that acts as the finishing touch for this process steeped in expertise and tradition.
If Rundholz’s Fall/Winter 2024 was about recreating silhouette, Rundholz DIP provides a foil by innovating texture. When paired together, the result is a feast for the senses. Whether nubby or smooth, gossamer or plush, rigid or butter -oft, there is a treat for every hand this season. Main Line’s deliveries center around linen overcoats, fuzzy yak yarns and a new felted knit fabric. Meanwhile, DIP’s offerings for the season are threefold: soft, lightly distressed knits, crinkled silk shirting and Carsten’s latest interpretation of the puffer coat (a cool, parka-esque design intended as a final, marshmallowy layer for cold weather climates).
The palette is largely tonal in black, grey and white, but the addition of Sunset red provides an exhilarating punch of color. Though each piece stands well on its own, layering multiples is the best way to wear Rundholz in all its forms. With such a diverse offering of cuts and fabrics, designers Carsten and Lenka Rundholz invite us to dig our hands in and discover our own textural landscape.
There are many monikers for Pierre-Louis Masica: compositional maverick, modern aestheticist, master of prints to name a few. Most recently, the Paris-based illustrator could be described as a weaver of history. No stranger to the power of juxtaposition, he digs into aesthete archives to source and transform the motifs of cultures past. His latest delivery comprises special silk scarves from his Fall/Winter collection, cheekily named Ashes to Ashes—Funk to Funky. Within this concept, he combines Greco-Roman mosaics, Bauhaus geometries, Persian mandalas, Japanese woodcuttings and psychedelic abstracts into a presentation as rare and imaginative as Pierre-Louis himself.
Big enough to be displayed on a wall, Pierre-Louis Mascia’s Aloe Ultrawash scarves measure generously at 55″ by 75″. This creates an unmatched versatility for styling. Wear it as a shawl, layer it around the neck or let it cascade down the shoulder as a final touch of artful color.
Ümit Ünal is a steadfast designer—not only has he headed his own self-named label for almost 30 years, he also grew up working in his family’s Istanbul atelier. His identity is so intertwined with tailoring and fashion that it may come as a surprise to learn his first love was archaeology. In the excavation of the past, the exploration of bygone civilizations and the unearthing of the long and lost, Ümit’s imagination raced with possibility. Then again, in looking closely at the antiquity of his collections, this core fascination may come as no surprise at all.
Like his Anatolian homeland, Ümit is a melting pot of ideas. Beyond prehistory, his influences are interdisciplinary: tenets of comedy, sculpture, poetry, music and art permeate his designs. While he doesn’t lean towards national or cultural references, and avoids the gilded maximalism of traditional Turkish dress, regional motifs still peek through. In particular, Ümit favors the hand-embroidery and stitchwork endemic to Anatolian tailoring—with his own twist, of course.
In running stitches along hems and faux darning on lapels, Ümit chronicles his distinct aesthetic in thread. One of the most coveted elements of his pieces is this presence of the hand—topstitching, embroidery and basting akin to an artist’s signature. Far from the decadent embellishment of his peers, Ümit’s needle adds raw authenticity to his work, as if the piece holds history before its first wear.
The Ümit Ünal studio exhibits a care for classical, understated design unmatched in the modern lexicon. His palette, while tonal, is his most carefully considered element. To him, color can be a distraction. Instead, he presents his designs in their most “naked” form. This neutral palette, presented this season in teal, rust brown and heather grey, allows his artisanal details to shine all their own.
As inferred by the name of the Maku Textiles studio, fabric is the forefront of Santanu Das’ small, Kolkata-based label. From thread to garment, their designs are a quiet celebration of the human hand. The textiles are slowly loomed from soft, organic yarns and each piece cut and sewn by traditional artisans before being hand-dyed with locally grown indigo. Santanu will even deliberately incorporate “perceived imperfections,” such as reversed buttons and asymmetrical prints, bringing additional focus to the maker’s touch.
Rooted in both traditional craft, contemporary design and the storied history of Khadi weavings, this is a collection as alive as the indigo central to its creation. Though Maku comes to us at the onset of fall, these are lightweight pieces perfect for the season. Khadi in particular is a versatile, breathable fabric, typically woven from cotton or silk, that is cool in summer and warm in winter.
Cloud-shaped embroidery and delicately pintucked pleats decorate the dresses and tunics, while the shirting and coats are kept simple. The palette centers around the soft greens and blues achieved through multiple layers of indigo dye, lacquered one over the other like watercolor.
“As we engage with these textiles, we are connecting with centuries of history, heritage, and human spirit. ”
Of the many terms you could use to describe Aneeth Arora’s Péro, bland is never among the vocabulary. Aneeth and her team have a penchant for the extraordinary, transforming elements as pedestrian as a seam or a pleat into marvels of the human hand. They can, and will, go the extra mile with their designs–whether that is hand-enameling their buttons, embroidering french knots along every hem, or delicately beading a print to add an additional layer of texture. This is a brand that is delightfully maximal and better for it: within their exuberant florals and thoughtful details we find a joy unbridled.
This season, Péro sought a particularly playful inspiration for their designs–the French cartoon, Barbapapa, first illustrated by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor in 1970. Its story centers around a shapeshifting sweetheart born from a garden “like a flower,” with a mission to make the lives of those around him more pleasant and wonderful–not unlike Aneeth’s guiding force. In concert with this influence, Péro titled their latest collection Hullabaloove, a portmanteau of “hullabaloo” and “love.” Within every stitch, Aneeth fosters a similar commotion of fondness.
It really wouldn’t be Péro without flowers. Quilted peonies and beaded plumeria stretch across the collection. Their florals are a reinterpretation of the vintage motifs of their spring delivery, rendered in a richer palette of chocolate and pink. The bouquets bloom across classical textiles, such as Chanderi Silk and Harris Tweed. On a very special jacket, a field of embroidered daisies float over a soft woolen finish. As said by the French Impressionist Claude Monet, and endured by Péro, “I must have flowers, always, and always.”
When thinking of a new design, English jeweler Sia Taylor compares the process to coalescing emotion. Both granular and anything but, her approach is akin to capturing a daydream. Within each delicate piece of her handmade collection she forges mood, movement and memory in gold. Sia’s touch is organic, almost painterly. This is a beauty understated—akin to a breeze across flaxen wheat, greenery speckled with morning dew, the fluttering of golden leaves in fall.
The collection brought into Santa Fe Dry Goods comprises two of Sia’s core offerings: Dots & A Golden Meadow. The former is her most familiar: an exploration of how gold reflects light on skin. These pieces are minimal, classic, and intended to hang just below the collarbone, characterized by 18K disks strung along a fine chain. The latter, as suggested by its title, is intended to capture the essence of grasslands in late summer. Strung with organically-shaped, overlapping gold beads, these pieces capture nature’s ephemeral bohemia.
Each bead is melted, hammered and shaped by hand. At less than three millimeters in diameter, Sia’s is an intensive process on a minute scale. While she has long been called to the meticulous, her fascination with small things peaked while volunteering for a research project in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Wandering amidst the lush fronds of paper reeds and silvergrass, the delicate beauty of her surroundings captured her imagination. This formative experience comprises the bedrock of her inspiration today, diligently fed by long walks in the English countryside.
“Every collection is a story, something like a dream, abstract, but reminiscent of a feeling or a sensation. The shapes we craft in gold are the language which tells the story.”
Designers Francesca Rinaldo and Alessandro Gallo wholly embrace the wear and patina that a shoe will acquire with time – so much so that they gift their works a head start. The scuffs, marks, paint smears and distressing signature to their Golden Goose label are all achieved by hand–and are ultimately crucial to their ethos of “perfect imperfection.” To them, beauty is found in the irregular, custom and unexpected. With each pair, perfection may not be the goal… but the outcome certainly comes close.
Despite the lived-in appearance, Golden Goose sneakers are crafted with the highest precision. This is a brand born in Venice after all, informed by the same culture of taste that fostered great Italian labels such as Bottega Veneta and Valentino. With every design they concept, Francesca and Alessandro simultaneously embrace and reject the steadfast notions of Italian fashion. Their shoes are exquisitely crafted, but made to look like they’ve already traveled the world. They use traditional materials, such as lambskin and organic rubber, but transform them into surfaces for contemporary living. Each pair is cobbled slowly by hand but still embodies a core spontaneity.
For fall, Golden Goose is all about bringing back the classics with a twist. Suede and glitter in soft tones are buffed, shredded and skittered. They are ultimately comfortable right out of the box, with a raised footbed that cushions the sole with a firm, sporty feel. Prototypical skater shoes, retro basketball styles and radical hi-tops define the core of the delivery, inviting us to reacquaint ourselves with our favorite sneaks of memory.
The word memorabilia brings to mind a kaleidoscope of nostalgia. It is a photograph of a loved one, a satchel of vintage coins, a well-worn tee from your mother’s favorite band. It can be kitsch, it can be rare, it can be priceless. It is, in the words of poet Angelo Flaccavento, an effort to make the ephemeral permanent. In her Fall/Winter collection, designer Uma Wang captures the concept with a collection as clever as it is romantic.
Fun experimentations, such as fuzzy Truss vests and Cinnamon coats, are presented proudly alongside Uma’s classical Acre dresses and Kady jackets. The entire collection is a play on memory, both Uma’s personally and the global consciousness. Vintage and antique silhouettes, such as knit wrap coats and silk peasant tops, are plucked from the past and presented in new light. As is the Uma way, these pieces hold a constellation of interest—beautiful in shape, color and feel.
“Structure as posture. Posture as manner. Manner as structure… [Turning] the ephemeral into the permanent, like noting down thoughts on paper.”
— Poet Angelo Flaccavento on Uma’s Memorabilia collection.
For almost 25 years, Sacai’s Chitose Abe has perfected the art of hybridization. Just as Chitose Ave is a multi-hyphenate as a designer, mother, businesswoman, and most recently, magazine curator, Sacai pieces are two things at once. Shirting melds into dresses, peacoats into bomber jackets, traditional suiting into a cascade of feminine pleats. The results are dynamic and unexpected–elegant puzzles of garmentry that stay in the mind well after their first impressions. Of Sacai’s Fall/Winter collection, Chitose Abe said her instinct is to convince people to dress up more. With such a bold invitation, how could we say no?
Even after close to 50 Sacai collections, we can’t help but be wowed by Chitose Abe’s construction. To pleat and fold and stitch together so many faceted layers in one garment, and still have it float with such grace over the body, is mastery. Sacai pieces may have roots in the highest of avant garde silhouettes but they are less complicated to wear than they look, offering high-flying design with minimal styling effort.
“No matter how new and revolutionary of a design you make, if it’s not something that’s wearable, then I don’t think it has very much meaning. I myself am a designer, but also a business owner, and a mother. Like myself, people who live in different scenes have many unique faces and therefore the clothes I make, which are what I feel I want to wear, emphasize people to Sacai.”
Sabina Savage’s latest visual feast brings us aboard a 17th-century Dutch trading ship, en route to the city of Edo, Japan. In addition to standard dry goods, such as sugarcane and silk, the ship teems with terrified exotics—wild, imprisoned animals intended to be a gift for Japan’s then ruler, Shogun Tsunayoshi Tokugawa. Leopards, rabbits and birds tremble together as the ship’s merchants unload cage after cage onto the shores of Dejima Island. Before continuing to Edo, the merchants are met with revelry — the city is in the midst of Tango No Sekku, an ancient seasonal festival celebrating the children of Japan.
Unbeknownst to the merchants, their delivery coincides with a new edict from the Shogun: Orders on Compassion for Living Things. These strict animal welfare laws forbid the confinement and mistreatment of any living creature. As the merchants sleep for the night, local Tango No Sekku revelers sneak into the encampment. In observance of Tokugawa’s decree, and a deep respect for the beautiful creatures before them, they quietly unlatch and open the cages. Released from their imprisonment, the animals disappear into the night, lost among the festive decorations.
THE LUNAR LEOPARD
“The clouded leopard flees until he can run no further. Under the gently rippling willow and flags of Tango No Sekku, he takes pause on a hillside. His tortoise companion attempts to disguise their presence with samurai tassels, while the ship rats emulate the rounded shapes of the tsuba. It is the fifth night of the fifth moon in the lunisolar calendar, and a flight of swallows announces the outsiders’ presence under the sparkling sky.”
“The black tailed jackrabbits dash blindly through the decorated streets, twisting and gathering menuki and miniature kawari kabuto (strange helmets) as they bound. Now entangled in translucent paper lanterns, they float gently over Edo on the morning air until they reach Ōkunoshima (Rabbit Island). Here they attempt to assimilate with the native population. The lanterns cast a soft glow in the dawn light and the metallic grasses rustle softly.”
“As the sun rises, the imposing black karasu (jungle crow) soars above the city. Attracted to shiny things, he finds intricate arrowheads amongst the Tango No Sekku decorations and steals a gleaming samurai sword. His shadowy presence spooks the locals, who then spook him in turn, and losing balance, he becomes caught in the koinobori carp streamers. Panicking now, the imposing corvid heads towards the harbour, unwittingly collecting fish bones and a lobster as he glides.”
Sabina Savage, while a keen designer, is a storyteller at heart. In addition to the newest illustrations from Escape Into Edo, we invite you to explore other odes from Sabina Savage’s archive, such as A Tale of Tibet and Mythos, Sabina Savage’s interpretation of Ancient Greek lore. We seek Sabina Savages pieces for our stores again and again (even years after their initial production) because not only are they visually striking, but because their stories continue to resonate.
Footwear shouldn’t be an afterthought… what you wear on your feet is truly foundational (pun intended!) A colleague of ours has always said that she starts with shoes and builds the rest of her outfit upon that initial choice. This intentional type of dressing can make even the easiest outfit look (and feel) thoughtful. This isn’t to say you need fifty styles in your closet… A handful of personally chosen pairs should be able to span the week with ease. Labels such as Trippen, with their avant-garde, out-of-the-box, crazy-cool-and-somehow-still-crazy-comfortable designs, make this approach to styling fun—changing our perspective on modern footwear one step at a time.
For Trippen designers Michael Spieth and Claudia Hoess, delight is in the details. Their work at Trippen is an ode to the little things: the undulating rivets of a sole that leave unique footprints; the missing heel of a perfectly balanced wedge that reduces the shoes weight; the intimate freedom of dressing exactly how you want, when you want. Trippen’s latest collection, Horizon, is all about perspective. After all, even a micro experience, such as choosing your footwear for the day, can have a macro impact.
We can all benefit from the experience of a new angle. It’s one of the roles that future-thinking studios, such as Trippen, seem to relish in their work. On both a personal scale and a cosmic one, all things are interconnected and better for being so. A dream can be a reality; an obstacle, an opportunity; a shoe, a work of art. Optimism and pleasure are found outside of preconceived notions—all it takes is a change of scenery.
With her “Legacy” collection, Scottish designer Ellis Mhairi Cameron introduces new shapes and colors to her line of hand carved and cast jewelry. Reverse-set grey, yellow and white baguette diamonds glimmer across her rings, earrings and necklaces like stones embedded in the earth.
Amongst the new Ellis Mhairi Cameron pieces are several new styles of rings, including the Yellow Diamond Legacy Cocktail Ring. This piece features a stunning oval yellow diamond, surrounded by a halo of white baguette and brilliant-cut diamonds. The gemstones are set deep into the gold—a nod to Ellis Mhairi Cameron’s inspiration from uncovering buried treasure.
Influenced by objects unearthed on her grandparents’ farmland including a 17th century necklace and a fragments of a 16th century locket—Ellis Mhairi Cameron’s jewelry reflects her connection to her ancestors and the West Highlands.
“For these pieces, I wanted to explore the feeling of discovery—that moment when digging in the landscape, a glint of something special catches in your eye, and a piece of history is excavated from the earth.” – Ellis Mhairi Cameron
Good ceramic is defined by its form, great ceramic by its soul. Lise Herud Braten has the pleasure of embodying both. Her collection of sculptural vessels are the union of intuitive creativity, material mastery and discerning taste. Featured in both galleries and private collections across the world, Lise Herud Braten is a rare breed of ceramicist who merges our twinned interests in fashion and objects – we are excited to feature her one-of-a-kind works in Wild Life.
Based in London, Lise Herud Braten’s studio practice is informed by her prior career as a bespoke couturier. A natural maker, part of Lise Herud Braten’s pivot was to free her hand, opting for the organic creativity of clay over the rigid precision of tailoring. Her aesthetic undulates between sophisticated minimalism and rugged earthiness, informed by her upbringing in Norway.
Made primarily from stoneware and porcelain, Lise Herud Braten’s pieces combine many different ceramic specialties. The vessels may be angular, geometric, organic, soft – whatever tactile inspiration guides her hand at the time of their inception. Some capture the patina of antique metal, while others seem to be carved from bolts of white marble or chalk.
Much like Lise Herud Braten herself, her collection straddles international borders. Within each piece, find elements of Spanish terracotta, Japanese hagi-yaki, and Moroccan tamegroute mixed with elements of Nordic primitivism. Several of her works call upon East Asian sculpting traditions (our favorites being those inspired by iconic Korean moon jars.)
Lise Herud Braten typically starts her work on the potter’s wheel, before palming the piece to manipulate and shape its final form by hand. This mode often takes her away from the ordinary, allowing for moments of spontaneity as she feels across the surface of the vessel. Rooted in ancestral pottery traditions, her works capture the primal moments of their own creation – a rare and precious humility not often found in ceramics of this caliber.
“I find constant inspiration in craggy rocks, lichen, moss…layered tree bark…urban decay. My primary interests are texture and natural, undulating forms…”
In Dries Van Noten’s Fall/Winter 2024, the singular designer returns to his original muse: the paintbox. Decadent florals and broad-swath brushstrokes swell across his textiles in a feast for the eyes and hand. For Dries Van Noten, prints are not merely embellishment. They impart character and life into the garments they grace. His motifs are chosen carefully to best accentuate both fabric and form… expressive, elegant and ever bold.
Look 01
Roltas Brush STrokes Coat in Gold & Green
Look 02
Rankin Oros Coat in Metallic Gold & Pink
LOOK 03
Roltas Brush Strokes Coat in Green & Mauve
“I love the journeys of research and discovery their development takes me on. I see prints as less ‘decorative’ than many might, and more fundamental to a garment’s core.”
Jan-Jan Van Essche’s label was originally conceptualized as an annual fête—his Spring/Summer designs are his only deliveries referred to as collections. However, appetite for Jan-Jan Van Essche’s exceptional fabrics implored him to create a series of Fall/Winter offerings as well. These smaller, more focused dispatches are called projects in his Belgian studio. They are often hotly anticipated capsules that explore the intersections of form and texture. Jan-Jan Van Essche’s latest, Fall/Winter 2024, is titled Beyond—a reference to the limitless possibilities that lie just outside previously conceived boundaries.
Preconception is near foreign to Jan-Jan Van Essche. Like other Belgian greats, such as Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester, he is a designer so accustomed to upending norms that the divinely atypical comes second nature. In flouting tradition, Jan-Jan Van Essche achieves works of unmistakable prowess.
Not strictly a womens or menswear designer, Jan-Jan Van Essche’s organic, loose fit pieces flatter all genders. Rather than seek solely virgin fibers, his knit scarves are woven entirely out of selvedge material–each yarn chosen for the color and presence it adds to the weave. Crisply woven kinari cottons mingle with soft hemp fibers and woolen yarns that have been boiled until they are as smooth and shiny as silk.
One of the most notable facets of an original Jan-Jan Van Essche is its lack of traditional seams and origami-esque construction. Though subtly avant-garde in cut, Jan-Jan Van Essche garments are often presented in familiar, earthy palettes. Warm notes of camel punctuate this particular delivery, contrasting against the rich black textiles like a midnight sun. Ultimately, this is not a designer defined by the contemporary. Instead, Jan-Jan Van Essche designs beyond our borders, his work a timeless landmark in our aesthetic landscape.
The act of coiling clay involves more than just a dexterity of the hand. To take filaments of soft earth and slowly layer them to create paper-thin walls one to two feet high… this is a practice that requires the rarest mental acuity. At any moment, the vessel’s unfired structure could submit to gravity and collapse – an omnipresent risk in handbuilt ceramics. Linda Ouhbi relishes this challenge, committing to peril in pursuit of presence.
With each movement at her artist’s bench, Linda Ouhbi develops a dialogue between the surface of her vessels and the space they occupy. A tacit conversation emerges through this instinctive creation; a swell of clay at the base, bubbling lilts; an upward curve, rising ideas; a sudden edge, deliberate repartee.
Through this push and pull, Linda Ouhbi’s ceramics take on an indescribable quality: simultaneously azoic and vibrantly alive. They hum with a kineticism not often found in the inanimate. Organic shapes and angular cuts are both at home within Linda Ouhbi’s aesthetic vocabulary, contributing to this dualistic nature.
Though her forms are nothing short of incredible, what most strikes us are Linda Ouhbi’s hyper-tactile finishes. At first brush, the pieces seem to be hewn not from clay, but from rock, granite, metal – materials associated with the fortitude of architecture and spirit alike. This effect is achieved through a careful layering of mineral glazes, oxides and slips, followed by deliberate hand-carving. Linda Ouhbi achieves a “used” patina through this practice, as if each piece has already stood for a millennia, and may stand for a millennia more.
For pre-fall, designer Aneeth Arora is back to classics. Her line, Péro, is one we look to for a dose of playful nostalgia – quintessential shapes and familiar patterns rendered through Aneeth’s distinctly cultural aesthetic lens. In contrast to the rich florals of her spring collection, this first delivery is defined by a dynamic palette of raspberry and chocolate plaids.
Aneeth’s take on plaid and tartan, while sentimental, maintains a stylish edge. She often references the 70s and 80s in her line… plaids, in particular, were a symbol of revolution during this time period worn by rockers and rebels alike. Aneeth confronts modern blasé with the same vigor, co-opting traditionally feminine cues for the contemporary wardrobe.
Aside from the seamless blending of generational identity and personal voice, one of the most incredible elements of a Péro piece is the attention to texture. Using exclusively handmade fabrics, Aneeth and her team are able to carefully attune the way their works feel on skin.
For those who covet the garden, fear not—Aneeth’s trademark florals still sprout within this delivery. Find sprays of English roses tucked between the plaids, hidden in the silk lining of two coats (one of which is reversible) as well as the center frame for a gauzy cotton scarf. Additionally, we have received one of Péro’s most precious offerings: a special coat from their archive. Circa 2015, this limited-edition piece is exuberantly hand-embroidered with a bas-relief of stitched and beaded flowers. Vibrant carnations and daisies make up the core of the design, with the occasional tufted bud shooting up from the silken fabric. Most notable within the bouquet is hibiscus, a tropical bloom that doesn’t often feature in Péro’s oeuvre.
Established in 2015, Cottle is a relatively young brand… though you wouldn’t be able to tell that from their collections. These are pieces that meld the sophistication of couture, the casual cool of Japanese denim and the intense academia of ancestral dyes… all seasoned with a healthy dash of Americana. The creative genius of this union lies partly in the high-caliber creative background of its designers, Toshiaki and Yukari Watanabe. The rest of it is influenced by its environment: Kojima, Japan—the birthplace of Japanese denim and a modern mecca for indigo dye.
True to the history of Kojima, all manner of dyes make up the Cottle toolbox—it’s not unusual to find the deep cobalt of traditional indigo alongside Sumi Ink (pine soot), Hinoki (cypress bark) and Kakishibu (persimmon tannins). Toshiaki and Yukari are wholly dedicated to the processes and challenges of working with natural materials from seed to style, going as far as developing their own sewing thread from cotton and hemp.
The Cottle studio is headquartered in a renovated 130-year-old former textile factory in the same historic district where Japan’s first jeans were produced. You wouldn’t know it from a map, but just down the road are beaches so pristine they rival Australia’s Gold Coast. This nexus between cultural heft and modern leisure permeates the collection. Afterall, their brand ethos is to create an unfussy uniform for living. Though artful, their pieces are comfortable and endlessly wearable. And their denim, though new, has been worn-in so distinctly that you might think it’s a well-loved vintage weathered and salt-washed by decades of ocean air.
Album di Famiglia’s approach is one of consistency. Season after season, designer Monica Rusconi and her siblings, Giovanni and Patrizia, deliver pieces that are smart, straightforward, and easily layerable… each crafted with a simplicity that belies the deft touch of a seasoned atelier. The Album di Famiglia studio is based in Lomazzo after all—a small, medieval township just north of Milan, in a province best known for its high craft and luxurious textiles.
Album di Famiglia is a feel first, everything-else-second brand. If the fabric doesn’t make your skin sing, the Rusconis won’t work with it. Slippy silks and soft cottons are what they are typically known for, however Album di Famiglia’s Fall/Winter 2024 is defined by a selection of lush cotton velvets in rich earth-tones. In addition, we have also received a handful of the studio’s limited edition Serie Numerata works. These are the Album di Famiglia handknit Dolcevita sweaters—one made with cashmere, the other lofty alpaca and cotton.
