While some attendees grumbled about boring shows and uninspired collections, a trove of unusually wearable clothes were on display for fall 2012 at New York Fashion Week. Call it the Kate Middleton effect, but no longer are designers catering to just their most cutting-edge customers. Instead, anyone with a cable knit or a closet stocked with leather can join in.
Closely Knit: Despite this year’s mild winter, designers didn’t shy away from featuring snow-ready wares. Indeed, it was the humble cable knit sweater that provided the biggest surprise during New York Fashion Week. Derek Lam paired his with red carpet-worthy skirts, dressing up the traditionally dowdy wardrobe staple, while Yigal Azrouël’s exaggerated knit links and chains were used to create discreet cut-outs (and, perhaps a bit of circulation should it get too hot). At 3.1 Phillip Lim, the sweater was worn upside down, and seemingly inside-out, adding a post-modernist twist. But few designers paid homage to the iconic pattern like Tommy Hilfiger, who showed a trompe l’oeil cable knit dress.
Every traveler knows that packing light is a talent worth perfecting. Meeting TSA weight regulations requires patience, versatility and an exceptional display of restraint—which means items like wooden-heeled platform shoes and War and Peace are best left home. Innovative new luggage designs, however, are making packing less stressful by provoking a minimalist, utilitarian aesthetic that seems intended to send packrats scurrying.
Tumi Tegra-Lite: To create its new Tegra-Lite line of ultra-lightweight, sleekly contoured luggage, Tumi enlisted Milliken, a producer of plastics that counts race car builders and football gear designers among its clients. This high-tech collaboration required Tumi to overhaul its design process. Milliken’s super-strong Tegris composite isn’t pressed and stretched like the luggage brand’s traditional method of shaping; rather, it’s cut into sheets and folded to maintain the bonds that make up a lattice of highly durable plastic. The result is a 65-percent lighter rolling bag that’s built to withstand the battery of frequent travel. This is one suitcase that’s ready to get down to business.
There was a time when “carpetbagger” was used pejoratively, but this season designers just might take it as a compliment. From varsity jackets to roomy rucksacks, the key textile components for many contemporary designers are floor pieces. Whether it’s in the form of a ratty oriental rug or an intricate kilim tapestry, it seems that fashion is embarking on a magic carpet ride.
The Kilim Project: After a recent trip through the Middle East, German design collective A Kind of Guise returned to Munich with 50 kilim rugs. The flat tapestry carpets, all hand woven and some dating back to the early 19th century, proved far too attractive to keep on the floor, so the designers turned them into rucksacks. Each of the limited edition bags are accented with leather bottoms, a thick rope drawstring, and a shoulder strap. A Kind of Guise is not the only brand to use the home decor accent for carryalls—Hollywood stylist-turned-bag designer Simone Camille launched a series of leather bags featuring woven rectangular textiles—but theirs might be the most global.
It’s true that April showers bring May flowers, but autumnal downpours also have a bright side this year with the advent of intelligent clothing. In one instance, modern raincoats are keeping savvy wearers dry while making use of recycled raindrops. True, erratic weather forecasts may be on the horizon, but these other science-minded slickers stand to make even the most dedicated sun worshippers beam.
Raincatch: This summer’s solar film swimwear left many wondering what other weather-efficient garments would follow. A strong contender to become the Pacific Northwest’s newest fashion commodity, Raincatch is a multipurpose poncho that funnels precipitation through its collar, filters it through a charcoal and chemical purifying system, and then stores the water near the hips where it’s least obstructive, and most figure-flattering. Designed by two students at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, the poncho’s transparent tubing displays the process, while the water reserve remains hidden. As drought stricken locales are reluctantly turning to last resorts—and with clean water concerns at an all-time high—this concept may be just in time.
For some, the search for perfect jeans is eternal. That should not surprise, since personal preferences, not to mention diverse body types, mean that no single garment can really fit all. But retail businesses are revolutionizing the shopping experience by shifting the design process to the individual to produce one-of-a-kind clothing, and thus redefining the concept of “tailored.” It all begs the question, “Is bespoke the new black?”
Fitted Fashion: The “perfect fit” has always been something of an enigma. Whether it’s the hem, inseam, or bust that’s not quite right, most shoppers make compromises. But start-ups like Fitted Fashion are fashioning made-to-measure clothing that’s anatomically flawless. Using 3-D body scanners built by [TC]² and Fitted Fashion’s own pattern-making software, this retail newcomer accounts for the length and circumference of every body part. Even details like jeans pockets are repositioned according to the customer’s hip width for the most flattering look. Fitted Fashion will open a studio in New York early next year and hopes to partner with existing brands to produce lines of truly custom-fit clothing.
