All these seasons later, it still seems worth pointing out that Apiece Apart began as a modular wardrobe: The collections were comprised of pieces designed to be mixed and matched with each other, and with looks by the label from previous seasons. Apiece Apart duo Starr Hout and Laura Cramer have loosened the reins on their modular concept, but that starting point remains relevant insofar as the brand is still driven by a sense of realism about what women look for in clothes. Even as Hout and Cramer have dialed up the romance and the seasonal novelty of their collections—and this collection was long on both—they’ve kept sight of brass tacks concerns such as versatility and comfort. Consider, for instance, this season’s black jersey, V-neck dress, nipped gently at the waist by elastic disguised by a touch of ruching. Now there’s a go-to garment, if ever there was one.
American fashion was built, in large part, by women who thought the way Cramer and Hout do. Think Claire McCardell, Bonnie Cashin, Diane von Furstenberg. Like these designers, the Apiece Apart ladies understand that functionality and ease needn’t be the enemy of charm, which helps to explain why their wearable clothes are increasingly defined by flourishes such as ruffles. This season the signature ruffles came soft and fluid, as on the collar of a silky poet blouse or the butterfly-wing sleeves on a top of gauzy linen, or they came pert and structured, as in mottled green dresses in an engineered cotton knit. The engineered cottons were new this time out, and made for another strength in Apiece Apart’s expanding range of knitwear. Other new materials, such as velvet and Lurex, added to this outing’s sense of flash. The ponchos and reversible shearlings, meanwhile, helped to keep the collection’s feet on the ground. Cramer and Hout aren’t designers given to fantasy, but they’re making quite a business for themselves teasing out the beauty of the everyday.
