Making do with less runs counter to the fashion industry’s standard operating procedure; glamorous excess is a concept we’re all more familiar and comfortable with. Yet making do with less is a practice that designers and consumers alike will be compelled to get acquainted with as we adjust to living in a time of climate emergency. After the summer we’ve had, with the fires in the west and the flooding in the east, deadstock, upcycling, and the circular economy are certain to be talking points at New York Fashion Week. The challenge at hand is untangling glamour from excess.
Brian Wolk and Claude Morais, former New Yorkers who now live in Los Angeles and cater to the celebrity set (Elizabeth Olsen, Brandi Carlisle, and Awkwafina, among them), have come up with an ingenious way to go about it. As movie buffs with a home studio smack dab in the middle of old Hollywood, the designers frequent costume shops and vintage ephemera dealers. This season, they used the fabrics they found in those places for sharply tailored pantsuits, gender-fluid trenches, and red carpet-ready dresses. There’s a deadstock denim, sturdy of hand and faded to the palest of blue; a rainbow of satins and silk moirés; ultra-soft ’70s ultrasuedes; and an unusual gold mesh lamé. The magenta silk duchesse satin of a deeply ruffled maxi skirt and matching jacket is reportedly deadstock from the set of How to Marry a Millionaire.
Wolk and Morais sell mostly by private appointment. As sales pitches go, it doesn’t get much more persuasive than, “Marilyn Monroe might’ve worn this, instead it could be yours.” This might be a tricky formula to scale; there’s a finite amount of the Marilyn ephemera out there. But that’s another lesson for fashion; small is indeed beautiful.
