Jane Wade’s sophomore runway show took her out of the city commute and “out of office” for fall.
Wade said she wanted to push her Pacific Northwestern heritage to showcase outdoor sports and “OOO” escapism. The show’s styling details — lift ticket seating cards; Salomon skis, snowboards and footwear; crampons; utility belts and bags; walkie talkies, and even handbags made out of blocks of ice — accelerated the concept atop her utility minded, slightly subversive takes on city-meets-après ski style.
Wade wanted to “up the techniques” across both editorial and commercial offerings, noting her continued brushed canvas layers have been selling well at Bergdorf Goodman. Her hybrid, modular utility styles were simplified for easier wear, as seen through great reworked 100 percent cotton shirting, ribbed base layers and dresses, and utility corset dressing cut closer to the body.
“It’s giving a hint to modularity without the pieces having to come all the way apart — keeping the integrity of it being sedimentary or being able to break it apart or wear it a few different ways without making it like a little too tricked out for them to understand. From the commercial space, it’s really analyzing the sell-through and what people are responding to and why,” she explained.
The latter’s notable techniques included hand-crochet knits, new 100 percent leather injections and custom metal tag embroideries, which could be seen throughout individual layers (a cheeky knit balaclava and underpinnings look), or mixed together in the form of halter-neck gowns or a broad, cropped leather crossover jacket with hybrid knit and leather chaps.
The lineup was playful, cool and a nice extension of the emerging designer’s strong point of view that nicely bridged the worlds of retail-friendly dress with experimentation.
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