Stay updated with breaking news from Runway review. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Andrea Lieberman has always been a designer who’s more interested in clothes than fashion. Rather than reinvent the wheel each season, her A.L.C. collections reflect what “feels right” in any given moment: a wider sleeve, a slightly longer collar, a narrower silhouette, or a lush color combination. As we near the end of lockdown, Lieberman focused on minor tweaks that made quite polished pieces feel as comfortable as sweats (though you happily won’t find sweatpants here). There were jewel-toned ribbed-knit sets, styled together or broken apart with other separates, and the coats were almost un-tailored to feel more like blankets. Trousers had a new, relaxed sensibility thanks to hip-slung waistbands and pooling flares, a pivot from years of cropped, ultra-high army pants. The tight jeans of seasons past were replaced by an easy straight-leg style too. For those of us craving “going out” clothes, the soft jersey dresses and velvet cutout gowns might ease the transit ....
He’s too discreet to toot his own horn, but Martin Grant has lived the expat designer’s dream in Paris for nearly 30 years. That wasn’t even the beginning: Having started his first business back home in Melbourne at 16 years old and made the pages of Australian Vogue at 18, he turned up in the City of Light a decade later with a degree in sculpture, zero connections, and proceeded to get straight to work. The turning point came in the mid-’90s, when Naomi Campbell did a turn in a show at the designer’s tiny Rue des Rosiers boutique. It’s the stuff of fashion lore; one doesn’t hear such stories much anymore. ....
Valentin Yudashkin launched his fashion label in the Soviet Union. Though materials were far less abundant than they are in present-day Russia, Yudashkin made an international name for himself with his limited resources, even catching the eye of the late Pierre Cardin. The practice of thinking beyond what’s on hand was one of themes of Yudashkin’s new fall collection, which focused on space travel, Cardin himself, and the narrative of a young woman factory worker who studies at night to become a fashion designer. As usual, Yudashkin focused on silhouettes and technique. His supersharp blazers and double-breasted jackets were no fuss and impeccably cut. Regarding these masculine touches, he said he was thinking of his young protagonist reworking pieces from her father’s wardrobe. One cool example was a retooled white shirt that appeared to be worn in reverse with an exaggerated collar. Cardin and his space-age ’60s sensibility were the inspirations behind the collection ....