Katie Ermilio was recently named a member of the CFDA’s third Fashion Incubator class. The news has not only added to Ermilio’s momentum, but also given her the opportunity to re-examine her brand from a business standpoint. Known for occasion-wear that’s ultrafeminine yet minimal, the designer’s new Fall collection indicated that she’s no one-trick pony. A prime example of her growth this season was an orange-red parka cut from a waxed cotton sourced from a company that originally produced military tents during World War I. The sporty standout suggested that Ermilio is developing her range, as did additional separates like slim trousers, fancy T-shirts, and color-blocked topcoats that had mod sixties appeal. “I’ve been thinking more about a woman’s wardrobe in the round,” she said at a studio preview. Elsewhere, Ermilio continued to refine her signature cocktail attire with clean sheaths and strapless dresses that came in either candy-stripe satin or floral guipure lace. Another highlight was a beautiful ivory column gown with a low, scooped back and flouncy train. It was simultaneously pared down and dramatic, and would look terrific with the aforementioned parka.
—Brittany Adams
Runway Feed

Samuji designer Samu-Jussi Koski cut his teeth at Finnish print titan Marimekko, so it’s no surprise that everything starts with the materials at his up-and-coming label. Koski luxuriates in his fabrics, and there’s a veritable menagerie of them on offer for Fall: Italian mohair, Japanese cottons, Lithuanian linens, and even Icelandic reindeer leather. They’re the building blocks with which he endeavors to create that most daunting of things: a complete wardrobe, from maillots to puffer coats. And based on his latest outing? Koski is designing for a life many of us wouldn’t mind getting in on. Clad as she is in mannish trousers and textured frocks, the Samuji woman doesn’t just dress smart—she is smart. The looks are quietly luxurious and straddle the sensible and the whimsical better than most. The former translated into handsome shirting, plenty of weighty knits, and some beautiful wool Breton tops and dresses, brushed so the stripes bled into one another ever so slightly. The latter came through in evening looks like a liquid, metallic column gown and a tinsel-covered carmine shift, but also made its presence known where outerwear was concerned. Koski has a real eye for sculptural shapes, and each swell of a coat felt intuitive and playful. The brand has only just begun to dip a toe into creating custom patterns, but one gets the sense that that’s all the liberation Koski needs to take things to the next level.
—Kristin Anderson
Runway Feed

Ace & Jig‘s claim to fame is its cornucopia of custom fabrics. For Fall, designers Cary Vaughan and Jenna Wilson trotted them out in more saturated hues than usual, taking the curated-bazaar aesthetic of their burgeoning brand to the next level. Prints were inspired by everything from oil paintings, circuses, and Delftware ceramics to Japanese denim and vintage saris (the duo visit the fair-trade Indian factory that produces their textiles twice annually). The resulting pieces smacked of the seventies and Ibiza, but Talitha Getty glamour it ain’t. Ace & Jig’s yoked blouses, peasant skirts, and slouchy overcoats made for breezy ensembles but came up short on polish in a way that made them challenging to fathom within the bounds of, say, a Manhattanite’s wardrobe. But brownstone bohemians of Park Slope, rejoice: Your laissez-faire layering just got a bit easier.
—Kristin Anderson
Runway Feed

Treasure Chests

Hall of Famer Christy Carrera returns with all new footage because who has a better Treasure Chest or Booty or Legs or…? Hang out (literally) with Tammy Lee in front of her favorite saloon while Reno Lynn shows off her outstanding pair of Big uns and ev

List Price: $ 19.95

Price: $ 19.95

The steep, winding streets of Monaco are fenced up and guardrails hug every curb. The Grand Prix begins here next Thursday, but this weekend belonged to Louis Vuitton. Team LV set up a see-through tent with custom-made Pierre Paulin seating for three hundred in the Place du Palais, and Nicolas Ghesquière favorites including Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jennifer Connelly, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Brit Marling, Ziyi Zhang, and Mackenzie Davis sat in the front row. All of them stood up when Prince Albert and Princess Charlene, accompanied by a battalion of security guards, walked in with Bernard Arnault.

The Cruise collection, Ghesquière’s second show for the LVMH powerhouse, was an elaboration of his first. He’s still thinking about “a wardrobe,” but these clothes were significantly more embellished than what he did for Fall, and, by extension, more playful. Ghesquière appeared to be having quite a good deal of fun: collaging mismatched prints, embroidering lace with tiny seed beads, and accessorizing with spiky silver belts and gladiator sandal-boots that inched up toward the knees. Deep pink was paired with baby pink, and caution orange with yellow and sea blue—”a game of colors,” he called it. It made his debut look almost austere by comparison.

At Vuitton’s March show, the blinds louvered open; here, the curtains closed and moving images of water flowing over rocks, shot by the artist Ange Leccia in Corsica, began playing on the video screens installed in the floor. “I liked the spirit of the girls walking on digital water,” Ghesquière said, referring to the Oceanographic Museum around the corner from the Palace. Aquatic motifs extended to the clothes. Coral branches were embroidered on a flaring, knee-length skirt, and the printed top it was paired with was decorated with two cutout portholes. Formula One, another Monégasque reference, got callouts of its own in the form of a snug racing car red leather jacket and a jersey dress printed with a checkered flag motif.

Ghesquière is still liking the fit-and-flare silhouette he introduced for Fall, but there was more diversity on the runway tonight. High-waisted, slightly flaring trousers will stir memories for fans of the leg-elongating pants he used to make at Balenciaga; on the other hand, embroidered slips with scalloped hems were among the least structured things he’s ever done. And because this was a Resort collection—in stores longer than any other season—the show ran the gamut, from a sheared fur coat to jersey T-shirt dresses. The handbag offering has grown, as well: The Petite Malle now comes with a chain handle, and he’s added a new, wide-mouthed bucket bag.

The overriding impression was of a designer not holding back. There was an engaging new eclecticism, but it didn’t come at the cost of the easiness that he established as one of his key LV codes back in March. The sensational first look—a silk top inset with LV’s classic monogram pattern embroideries and a pair of those high-waisted flares—captured that yin-yang best. Other looks, like the printed pantsuits, seem destined to garner the cult status that so much of his output has in years past. So, Ghesquière is enjoying himself at Vuitton? “I am. I’m inspired and I’m very happy.” It’s catching.
—Nicole Phelps
Runway Feed

Each season, A.W.A.K.E. designer Natalia Alaverdian picks a sort of spirit animal for her collection. This time out, she chose the peacock, a reference that manifested itself in more and less obvious ways. Most obvious: the peacock feather trim on a long gray coat. Least obvious: a white sheath dress with a kimono-inspired wrap about the shoulders, which Alaverdian said was a tribute to the albino peacock. OK, sure. Somewhere in the middle: the copious amounts of velvet here, redolent of the feel of feathers; Alaverdian’s use of peacock blue; her emphasis on fishtail hems that mimicked the shape of the bird’s spreading tail. But perhaps the strongest influence the peacock had on this collection was this: As opposed to previous A.W.A.K.E. outings, which put an eccentric, sculptural twist on essentially pragmatic clothes, many of the looks in this collection felt essentially ornamental. There were practical pieces, some of them very good, like a burgundy wool tank dress with an asymmetric hem, or long, faux-fur-trimmed coats that nipped in hard at the waist. But the focus on lingerie-inspired looks and floor-skimming dresses and skirts—many of them quite lovely—really shifted the tone here. The kimono-inspired looks were more matter-of-fact, with the scarf-collared outerwear a particularly strong execution of the wrapping idea. Overall, though, this collection felt like a departure for Alaverdian, but likely a temporary one—as if she’d taken an aesthetic vacation, spending some very pleasant time in a place where it was still the 1990s. Portland, maybe.
—Maya Singer
Runway Feed