It’s my personal belief that 1930s fashion could’ve been the greatest era of the industry. Designers like Schiaparelli were producing items that could easily be seen in department stores today, with incredibly modern silhouettes yet bold artistic choices that could be objectively appreciated in any era. My goal is to bring the essence of the 1930s into the 2020s within the scheme of my design theory, Minimalist Statements – that impact comes from simplicity. The less you say, the more weight your words mean. By this same vein, I focus on statement silhouettes over distracting design details.

The designs are derived from Art Deco architecture, focusing on sharp diagonals, perfect symmetry, and the carrot silhouette – a literal flip of the most iconic building in this category, the Chrysler. In this way, the details and volume of each garment are focused around the shoulders, highlighting large collars, pleated sleeves, and shoulder pads. 

Meanwhile, certain choices reflect the gloom of The Great Depression; the bright yellow and green color palette known to Art Deco is muted to a pale almost-sickly yellow and moody hunter green, and a rain-like texture is embossed onto the leather elements of the garments, visible in certain pleats, pockets, and collars. Rain represents misery – yet in the time of The Great Depression when The Dust Bowl left farmlands arid, rain also represented luxury, a duality which is transcribed into the elegance of this collection. 

The scarcity of this period meant that people had to be resourceful; versatile; hence the concept of interchangeability. The goal of this collection is to create jackets meant to be layered, giving consumers multi-wear, dynamic looks. Deci, latin for 10, is a root frequently used to mean multiplicity. In this collection, Deci means that though there are only 12 jackets, they can be combined to create 120 different looks. This ties into the increasingly important trend of sustainability, as garments with more wearing options mean that consumers don’t need as many different versions of the same item.

My customer is one who appreciates this versatility. She is a woman with a small closet, not because she cannot afford it, but because she understands the value of buying select expensive pieces over many more affordable ones. She likes to show off through style, not skin, and prefers more modest garments to present professionally. She is carry-on only, clean-while-you-cook, and constantly in control of her busy schedule, which requires her to go from the office to an opening event without time to change. Above all, she is elegant; from the way she dresses, to the way she walks, to the way she always thanks the doorman. She is part of the Endlessly Elegant.