One year ago, when it was announced that Sarah Burton was leaving Alexander McQueen after 26 years (13 as creative director), that she would be replaced by a young guy named Seán McGirr, and that that meant that all of the designers at Kering, the second largest fashion group in the world, would be men, the news caused a rare moment of breast-beating and introspection in the fashion world. Why were all the big jobs going to men? Why did there seem to be so few women designers?
Well, on Monday it turned out that Ms. Burton, and her special kind of poetic power-through-tailoring, would be staging a return, when LVMH named her creative director of Givenchy. That happened to be the same day Tory Burch held a show in New York that solidified her position as one of the tent-pole labels of the week. It was the same day Rachel Scott unveiled a Diotima show that confirmed her as one of the most exciting young designers in the city.
All three events functioned as a reminder that not only are there women designers — there are great ones. Perhaps it’s time to focus on them. You see interesting things when you do. Ms. Burch being a prime example.
For the last few years she has been pushing herself out of the comfort zone of Lee Radziwill-on-vacation caftans and ballet flats on which she made her name, surprising a fashion world that had largely pigeonholed her as a designer of suburban chic. Instead she has made an increasingly convincing case that she is the Claire McCardell of her generation, a legitimate heir to the woman who helped invent American sportswear.
This season was no different, the combination of her main lines and Tory Sport, which used to be designed as two separate collections, leading her to … well, a combination of sport and style that seemed particularly apropos in a post-Olympics, post-WFH world.
In a glass penthouse overlooking the Hudson River, the floor lined in apple-green tiles to resemble the bottom of a giant swimming pool, she offered up skinny knit polo shirts with color blocking reminiscent of soccer jerseys over long-line high-waist trousers. (Score one.) There were sequined bodysuits made to resemble maillots with jacquard sweatpants-like pants. (Score two.) And wrap jackets tied at the waist à la judoka over tucked ruffled skirts and shrunken polos layered over bodysuits.
It all looked relevant and actionable, in an oomph-up-a-wardrobe kind of way. The exception was some odd skirts, constructed to stand away from the waist so the person looked as if she was stuck in a paper bag.
Backstage Ms. Burch (who is partial to a bit of tennis) said that she was attracted by the combination of power and freedom sports represents. The same could be said of owning your own business. Who doesn’t want that?
If Ms. Burch is increasingly part of the New York establishment, however, Rachel Scott, the young Jamaican designer whose label Diotima is only three years old and who was named the 2023 emerging designer of the year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, is a new star.
Originally known for her crochet work and ability to combine the high-touch heritage of Caribbean craftsmanship with contemporary lines, her collection is getting evermore layered and complex. See one long gray halter-neck dress covered in ropes of melted white paillettes that resembled the most glamorous barnacles, and intarsia knits pieced together in waves, undulating over the body. Even the broderie anglaise trim on a ruby slip dress, and embedded in a crisp white shirtdress worn over slick black pants, turned out to be lacy palm trees and marijuana leaves.
Rather than a runway show, Ms. Scott held a presentation in a loft space scattered with crimson candles and matching stick-like structures evoking the rituals of her homeland. After posing, her models wandered around, mixing with guests. They looked like the most compelling people in the room.
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