The fashion pieces and new openings you need to know about this spring
In keeping with the new beginnings of spring, we travel across the world to meet the labels opening shops and launching debut collections.
SS Daley
UK
British designer Steven Stokey-Daley is becoming one of the most promising new names in fashion due to his ability to marry wardrobe classics, including plenty of suiting, with novel, humorous designs such as intarsia knits featuring playful illustrations. Stokey-Daley has a flair for “reinvestigating” wardrobe archetypes, such as duffel and trench coats, while experimenting with traditional fabrics.
For spring, he debuted a womenswear range: an elegant line-up of checked suits, tailored Bermudas and beaded skirts, referencing British painter Gluck. “I’m having so much fun,” says Stokey-Daley. “It’s an exciting adventure and it feels as though there’s so much room to explore and develop new ideas.”
ssdaley.com
Bode
Paris
Bode is branching out of the US with an ambitious retail opening in Paris, a stone’s throw from the Palais-Royal. “France has played a significant role in Bode’s history and the search for a retail location in Paris started more than four years ago,” says founder Emily Adams Bode Aujla, who has built a reputation for her eclectic designs, made using upcycled fabrics.
Working with her husband Aaron Aujla, one of the men behind New York-based interior design studio Green River Project, Emily drew inspiration for the boutique from the story of a French hotelier known for his love of fly fishing. The aim was to marry French and US tropes in the shop, which features antiques sourced from both sides of the Atlantic; sofas upholstered in silk; and stained glass. On the rails are the brand’s striped pyjamas, bold knits and embroidered shirts, as well as some Paris exclusives, including ties and shirting crafted from century-old French fabrics.
bode.com
Sophie Bille Brahe
Denmark & USA
Copenhagen-based Sophie Bille Brahe is becoming a household name in the world of fine jewellery, having opened her first international outpost on New York’s Madison Avenue last year. “The history of the street made it feel like a natural home for my designs,” says Bille Brahe, who often takes inspiration from ancient Egyptian constellations and Venetian mythology. “The shop’s design is rooted in my heritage, blending Danish craftsmanship with understated luxury,” she says of the minimalist space and its Dinesen wooden floors, lace curtains, worktables by Danish artisan Poul Kjaerholm and Mats Theselius chairs that are a nod to Bille Brahe’s muse, Peggy Guggenheim. To mark the opening, the brand debuted Collier de Madison, a take on its Collier de Tennis Royal diamond necklace. “The Madison Avenue shop isn’t just about bringing Copenhagen to New York,” says Bille Brahe. “I wanted the space to welcome visitors by telling my story.”
sophiebillebrahe.com
Plan C
Italy
Carolina Castiglioni usually thinks about herself when designing her label’s biannual collections, so venturing into menswear didn’t come naturally. “It was a request, especially from Japan, where male customers kept coming in our boutiques to shop for themselves,” says Castiglioni, who realised that most of Plan C’s designs – slim tailoring, roomy cotton shirts, workwear-inspired parkas and denim jackets – could be translated for men. “There have always been menswear inspirations in my work, so we focused on unisex pieces that can be styled in different ways,” says the Milanese designer (pictured), who unveiled her first menswear range at last summer’s Pitti Uomo. Plan C’s successful formula from the get go has been high-quality wardrobe classics sprinkled with novelty and excitement via the right accessories. Come spring, you’ll find the label’s menswear designs at its standalone boutiques in Tokyo and Osaka, plus a handful of multibrand boutiques including Dallas’s Forty Five Ten.
plan-c.com
Sans Limite
Japan
Yusuke Monden started his menswear label Sans Limite in 2012 after cutting his teeth in shirt design and production at Comme des Garçons. His concept is simple: wardrobe classics made well. Starting with a tight edit of six shirts, he has since expanded to ready-to-wear and accessories collections. “We don’t try to sell items for a specific season or drastically change fabrics for each collection either,” says Monden. Monden is committed to “Made in Japan” quality. “We do the patterning and planning internally, and then work with domestic factories,” he says. “When it comes to one-off items, such as patchwork shirts, hand-knit sweaters, or even rugs, we work on them in the studio and then send them off to the factories for completion.” Sans Limite’s Tokyo flagship is on a busy shopping street by the railway tracks that, post-Second World War, was home to a black market for US goods. It’s a world away from the neighbourhoods usually favoured by fashion brands.
sans-limite.jp
