You can never go home again.
For me, inspiration never comes from a simple place, like “the streets of New York circa 1989” or Scarface. I sometimes crave the convenience of that, but I know it would never satisfy. Instead, it starts as a flicker of an idea and grows with time as the mind meanders, concepts get debated, a form takes shape. This season was no different.
A friend in Paris, in one of those seemingly non-sequitur conversations I tend to fall into, mentioned the German phrase Der Prophet gilt nichts im eigenen Land—which translates to, “a prophet is worth nothing in his own country”. In other words, one’s achievements and acquired wisdom go unrecognized by the people who have known them the longest. What began as musing on how our experiences conspire to make us who we are, ended in the realization that to go back and re-live them, in their exactness, would be impossible. Not because the environment has changed, but because you have.
This led me to consider how our past experiences not only inform who we are on the inside but also lay the groundwork for our individual style and taste. I see this play out in our office, across a team that spans decades and wildly different backgrounds. A sharply tailored blazer is never just a blazer; our opinions are swayed by our associations and sometimes, just whether we hold a fond memory from wearing something similar. Funny, we can all agree that we love something, we just don’t agree as to why.
I began exploring the styles from my past that occupy the most space in my fashion memory bank. To put tangible visuals to what was in my head, I scoured old photos, the ones I housed in well-worn albums rather than on my phone, and stacks of magazines I’d saved over the decades. As I did this, a pattern was unfolding: my brain had distorted reality. The positive and emotional memory of how I felt in these pieces obscured what was actually there, making them much bigger and chicer than what was there on paper. Pictures of me in my beloved trouser skirt from the late ‘90s looked, admittedly, like just a straight skirt. I’d been imploring Traci to create something similar, but when I brought in the actual piece, it didn’t live up to my flourished descriptions. I had somehow reconstructed my favorite pieces from fragments of memories, altering them with my experiences and updating them with the change of time.
Sometimes you must go backwards to move forwards.
Traci and I set out for Fall 26 to recapture how our favorite pieces made us feel. Not for the sake of nostalgia, but because we desired to make a collection that would stick with us, wouldn’t fade with new trends, and would be much more than the sum of its parts. Our small team packed their bags and headed south to document the moments that gave birth to the Chill, the Modern, and the Classic. We decided to tell the season’s story with a short film shot with the team at SCAD – the Savannah College of Art and Design. Their talented and inspiring students helped us recreate moments from our past, in some cases with an irreverently literal take, that has formed the spine of our style DNA. We filmed on SCAD’s renowned back lot, mirroring scenes from growing up in the South in the throes of the ‘80s, Wall Street when the power suit conveyed what it meant to be a Working Girl, and late ‘90s NYC under the trance of a chic and deceptively understated minimalism.
Fall 26 is a creative take on our glorified memories executed in designs that are unabashedly new and yet familiar. While a paper textured red bomber jacket or jeans tapered with folded pockets at the hip can be traced back to a moment in time, nothing about the interpretation and execution resides in the past. Sharp suiting pumps memories of confidence and strength while simultaneously eliciting a new ease, one achieved through the manipulation of rich Italian fabrications and innovative new textiles. That simple trouser skirt central to a ‘90s wardrobe takes on varied and functional iterations as Traci has deconstructed and re-crafted a staple piece that converts easily to be worn over pants or turns quite feminine with the unleashing of a side drape. The coats we have become distinctly known for are executed in luxurious menswear fabrications, so expertly tailored they can even be worn inside out. They lend irony to our most feminine dresses and offer a highly chic option for when the weather is biting.
And the tops. We have collectively been craving options in our closet that can transform our favorite Stella pants and add perspective to our Liam blazers and Sid jeans. We solved the dilemma by creating styles that bring fresh proportions and interest without becoming so specific in their point of view that they lose their ability to be worn many ways, for many moods. Options. Always.
Stay tuned over the next couple of months as we share with you all the behind-the-scenes process and the backstory of the characters who helped us create something deeply meaningful. I hope you love the collection and you’ll, no doubt, view each piece through your own lens. And that’s exactly the point.