This season marks Pringle of Scotland's second outing in its new, more modest form. Since parting ways with Alistair Carr, the brand has been designed by an in-house team, with a mandate to focus on staple pieces rather than editorial looks. The collection the team presented today showed great improvement over the previous one—stronger in its strengths and more compelling in its weaknesses. There was also more than a handful of genuinely standout items, such as the luxe leather trenchcoats lined in pillowy cashmere.
The collection's primary strength, no surprise, was its knitwear. Some of the better developments this season included a plush ribbed knit inscribed with a textural argyle design and the paper-thin, pleated, and perforated merino used in fetching skirts and short dresses with an Alaïa-esque flare. The weakness, meanwhile, was in the design team's more editorial efforts—also no surprise, under the circumstances. The color-blocked shirtdresses, for instance, were encumbered by weird hybrid turtleneck-scarf attachments. And narrow trousers with contrasting, boot-length folds below the knee likewise seemed to be working too hard to be interesting. Still, at least there was an effort to go beyond the collection's main discernible theme, which was its reverence for the Pringle signatures, and to elaborate it in unexpected ways. The point of view at the revamped Pringle of Scotland is still TBD. But while they're figuring it out, they'll be making a mint off those leather and cashmere trenchcoats.
