“Our business has transformed in the last year,” Cynthia Rowley defined over Zoom. Not solely was on-line enterprise famous to be doing nicely, however the model additionally began promoting with retail companions once more (corresponding to Matches, Farfetch, Saks and Neiman Marcus); an upcoming, disclosed collaboration can be on the horizon.
“There are rumors we got a new designer,” Rowley joked. The designer has, through the years, experimented with what works for her model — displaying on the calendar, displaying off the calendar, working rapidly with shorter lead occasions (the model is working three months out at a time), and so forth. — however one of many key concepts she’s implementing is spontaneity. “To keep it fresh…we try to make it as exciting and as fun as possible.”
Jokes apart, Rowley’s resort assortment (a season she additionally refers to as an “experiment before September”) was the results of protecting issues mild and contemporary aesthetically, but “serious” business-wise. Furthermore, the designer leaned into the thrill of dressing up, which she plans to magnify for September.
The look: Pretty, playful fashions with fluid, voluminous shapes and bijoux particulars (even in sporty separates); a stability of “fun, princess details” with industrial attraction.
Quote of notice: “People want a reason to dress up,” Rowley remarked over Zoom. “You would never have bought this last year [referring to last season’s boa’s and this season’s voluminous, bejeweled fashions]. Now, [people want] to have something that seems crazy and is a little princess-y.”
Key items: Billowing frocks aplenty — sheer, voluminous clothes, worn over sexier bedazzled bralettes, or floral-printed kaftans; little tube tops with full tulle skirts; sporty separates with ornamented sleeves; a signature wetsuit with juxtaposing, delicate wave print cascading throughout the bodice. Unseen from the look e-book, Rowley famous myriad swimwear with cutout particulars and jewel gildings.
Takeaway: While Rowley’s resort fashions emulated playful femininity, she desired to seize the concept of “a moment in fashion” for the look e-book. Using motion (fashions on swings), she was in a position to take action whereas capturing the clothes’ breezy attraction.
Regarding her September plans, Rowley responded, “Yes, big!” While the model continues to be working via particulars, they plan to point out in-person for New York Fashion Week.
