Veronica Leoni started working on this collection just days after Moncler’s raucous last-February Genius launch and after-party: ah, the Rick Owens RV, the bratwurst, and the dance floor. That launch coincided with the first discovered case of COVID-19 in Italy and its immediate aftermath. She remembered, “It was the first time we realized how specific our way of working had been, and that the way we were working had to change.”
Reviewing this collection feels changed too: That night last February involved helter-skelter-ing through 10 or so collections in less than one hour fashion speed dating which was both fun and efficient but hardly conducive to connection. In contrast, speaking with Leoni on Zoom and looking slowly at these look book images there’s no particular rush, as due to some calendar vagary the collection has been on sale since January, so this review is more an exercise in completism is highly conducive to connection. Even when frustratingly shot in black and
Mimi Prober declined to comment on this season’s tempest in a teapot, Bode versus Stan, but like the designers behind both of those brands, she uses antique quilts and textiles in her work and has done so for some time. Her mission is “preservation and taking textile narratives to a new generation through clothing,” she said on a call. The reversible coat, made from a 19th-century
boutis, that opens and closes her fall look book, is one example of that idea taking form.
Prober designates pieces made in New York from antique textiles as “Atelier,” and a few of those are worked into the mainline collection, made largely in India using sustainable fabrics and dyes. Most pieces involve handwork in various forms, be that the weaving of the fabric, block printing, knitting, or embroidery. The designer is also a jeweler, and designed the silver button that closes a cardigan pieced together from upcycled Scottish wool sweaters. Because Prober’s aesthetic is vintage-inspired an