Ifeel beaten up, worn out,” Tom
Ford told me. We were backstage
in New York, just as the a/w ’19
shows were kicking off. In his
black velvet blazer and aviator
sunglasses, and sporting a
Californian tan, he looked far from
it. Ford was reflecting on a culture of
excess, from the frantic news cycle that
bombards us every day to fashion’s
penchant for opulence. “I don’t want to
look at aggressive clothes,” he declared.
“I want to look at something beautiful
and soft and pared down a bit.”
If the new fashion moment is
reflective of an overarching mood,
then it’s a longing for clarity. In the
face of the tornado of ball gowns, logos,
feathers, embroidery and tinsel that’s
blasted through fashion in recent
seasons, it’s no wonder that designers
feel ready for a cleanse. On the shopping
list now are sober suits in corporatecharcoal, sumptuous camel coats with
funnel-neck collars, strong-shouldered
blazers, lean leather trousers, stompy
black boots and black tights.
The minimalist seam was a quiet but
insistent presence in New York, often
mingling with drama and excess. At
Michael Kors, a Studio 54 atmosphere
masked a collection of decidedly
wearable pieces, from herringbone
overcoats to floral shift dresses. “Back
then, everyone was dressed to strut on
the street, dressing with abandon even
though the world was falling apart,”
said Kors, drawing a parallel with
current political turbulence.
Nonchalant elegance reigned at
Tom Ford: unbuttoned shirts loosely
draped over rollnecks and tucked into
rolled-up satin trousers segued into
layered column dresses with chain
straps. Meanwhile, The Row
approached maximalism in its purest,most restrained form. If that sounds
like an oxymoron, picture dramatic
volumes draped with surgical precision,
executed in a soothing palette of
quiet greys, blacks and beiges. With
measured ease, Mary-Kate and Ashley
Olsen perfected the balance between
minimalism and excess in stripped-
down jackets elongated to new
dimensions, delicately sculpted funnel-
neck blouses and ankle-length dresses.
These nods to couture were similarly
exercised at Carolina Herrera, where
Wes Gordon’s painterly colours came
to life in lightweight taffeta gowns that
were majestic, yet ultimately easy.
At Oscar de la Renta, Laura Kim
and Fernando Garcia interlaced their
opulent flow of red-carpet floor-
sweepers with easy day dresses in inky
hues, consistently juggling the over-
spilling with the boiled-down. But Marc
Jacobs’s couture-inspired collection, >A season of
contrasts: opposite,
from left, Tom Ford’s
white column gown
vs a feathered
confection from
Oscar de la RentaFrom New York to London and Milan to Paris, at the
a/w ’19 shows, the sartorial pendulum swung between
maximal and minimal – but always with elegance.
Anders Christian Madsen reports from the front rowsATA LEOFFOURCITIESJASON LLOYD-EVANS; MITCHELL SAMS12308-19-WellMood.indd 123 11/06/2019 16:04