NEW YORK, N.Y. - Just last season the Chicago-based designers behind Creatures of the Wind were focusing on intricate couture techniques.
But for fall, the duo of Chris Peters and Shane Gabier have veered toward a sparer, less intricate and more masculine look.
"This season we got a little more directly into a masculine silhouette," Peters said after Thursday's show. "The whole collection was an exercise in restraint. We cut down on fabrics and tightened the colour story."
Jackets were big and boxy. There was a lot of black, brown, grey, navy and ivory — though bright orange added big splashes of colour to a number of outfits. Color also came in appealing patterns that Peters and Gabier term "broken geometry."
A broad double-lapel jacket in black kidskin, ivory vinyl and olive wool was worn over a black cotton and ivory vinyl shirt and a houndstooth plaid trouser in black and yellow. A coat of navy and black wool and black vinyl was paired with a navy wool twill trouser.
A more feminine and pretty look came in a dress with a black kidskin top and a jacquard bottom — in that "broken geometry" pattern — of bright blue, green and olive.
The two designers have risen fast in the fashion world. At Thursday's show, Vogue editor Anna Wintour sat across the room from model-actress Dree Hemingway, Mariel's daughter and the great-granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway.
Gabier and Peters say one of their chief inspirations this season was the Memphis movement, an Italian design collaborative from the 1980s that specialized in colorful furniture, fabrics and other objects.
It's natural that the designers have a strong focus on art technique: Both studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Gabier is a teacher there.
Peters said the reasons for the emphasis on restraint this season were both artistic and practical.
"It was about finding our narrative," he said, "and also about commercial viability."
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