Killer taste is always in style, and Maryam Nassir Zadeh's got it in genre-spanning spades. It's what sets her eponymous Lower East Side boutique apart, cementing it as a favorite of smartly dressed downtown types—a handful of whom you'll find in Zadeh's new lookbook. Her in-house line, launched in 2013, has a distinct wit and off-kilter elegance. "Classic, but not conservative," is how she described it. For Fall her wide-ranging, arty fodder included the Mediterranean; joy and movement; the arts, specifically as they relate to women—i.e., a snap of Charlotte Rampling, camera in hand; '60s Pop sensibilities; hearty doses of the '80s and '90s; curves and round forms; and all-American, sun-soaked school days. It sounds like a cornucopia of ideas, but Zadeh pared them back to their barest essence and came out of it with a pragmatic, versatile offering. Plenty of items bore retro touches, but with an edge that kept them planted firmly on this side of the millennium. Take a buttery leather peacoat, familiar enough but for its uncanny shade of blush/putty/taupe. Pert cardigans bore inset stripes of transparent cellulose, a wonderfully weird concept that's sure to charm the MNZ customer. Zadeh appreciates the power of staple pieces; one of the collection's quieter coups came in the form of the brand's first tee—a high crewneck number that was dead-on Ali MacGraw.
