As designers, we spend a lot of time thinking about and talking to the women in our lives. How do they dress in their daily lives? What makes them feel both special and comfortable? What do they want from their clothes?
My observations reminded me that the women I know rarely, if ever, dress for men. When they do dress up, it’s for other women, and it’s women’s praise that matters to them. Elsa, too, had little time for the male gaze: Yes, she collaborated with many male artists. But though her clothes may have been made with them, they weren’t meant to be looked at by them.
I was inspired to create a wardrobe that would speak to the contradictions inherent in women’s lives: How could I give them something that both riffs on masculine archetypes… while at the same time allowing them to embrace the feminine divine? How could I give them something that would allow them to feel dominant when they needed to be… without sacrificing their sense of tenderness? How could I be there for them when they wanted to look austere… or when they wanted to look baroque?
That tension, between the masculine and feminine, between submission and control, between extravagance and rigor, gives this collection its frisson. Indeed, those dualities inspired our very fabrics: Hard things—such as a classic cowboy boot—were given a feminine polish and shape. Tooled leather (another staple of the cowboy’s code) was reimagined on belts, boots, and bags. A little clutch that looks like it’s fashioned from thin sheets of beaten copper is actually created from a specially treated leather. What looks hard is soft, and vice-versa.
Much of the playfulness of this collection comes from its juxtapositions, trompe l’oeil mischief, and unexpected dimensions. A blown-up feather motif was flocked onto double satin and stamped into spongy neoprene velvet. Our new slouch-side top handle day bag is blown up to epic proportions: a place where a woman can store her entire life on the go. Our soft Soufflé bag comes covered with hundreds of gleaming golden studs. What looks like A stretch flocked bodysuit looks constricting but moves like a leotard. Our signature gold jewelry has also become lighter, with our favorite motifs (eyes, noses, keyholes) finding new life in textured-gold metal chandelier earrings and necklaces. The silhouettes pay homage to my childhood in Texas, where I was even then studying local iconography: There are versions of such classic ranch pieces as the duster coat, the bow-legged jean, the Red Wing cowboy boot, and the oversized cowboy belt buckle (here decorated with iconic codes of the Maison: the keyhole and the lobster). These were clothes that were made to be practical, and over the years, became their own recognizable style.
There was something else behind this collection, too. In this post-social media era—when many of us have become weary of and disgusted by living our lives through the screen—many of us are asking what makes life meaningful. Meaning comes from recognizing what is still precious in life—the things and people that can’t be replicated. The things and people that have to be experienced physically and personally. I’ve spent the past few months speaking less and listening more. I wanted to make things that can inspire, and that can never be replicated by fast fashion. The women in my life are lone stars—there’s no one else like them, and there could never be. I hope they, and all women, feel the same about these clothes.
