The upside to the continuing collaboration between Each x Other and Robert Montgomery: His zeitgeist-y poetry may encourage you to ponder stuff. See: “Poetry finally kills ‘celebrity culture,’ ” which beamed forth from a black hoodie. He also hand-painted “Seagulls are low planes on fire” onto the back of a perfecto. How’s that for imagery? “Childhood Saturdays” was among a handful of reflections stitched tattoo-like onto necks and cuffs of second-skin mesh layers.
The downside: Sometimes the words speak more strongly than the designs. This reviewer, for instance, will just as likely remember the backlit text sculpture on the darkened stage, “The future is an invisible playground,” as the sloped front leather jeans. Do the clothes hold up without their poetic provocations? It was easy enough to look at the apron dresses, leather and vinyl patchwork jacket, and upholstery-esque suiting and envision contemporary beatniks—the type of bohemians whose style is a function of today’s gig economy. Perhaps they buy a chic leather skirt or cool ruffled-edge Chelsea boots when things are good; and then rework their grandfather’s old cardigan into a tube top when they’re not. But because the Each x Other’s cofounders, Ilan Delouis and Jenny Mannerheim, come at the brand more from concept than craft, there’s room for improvement as far as tailoring; fallen straps were too stiff to be sexy, and the suiting needn’t have been so extra-large. This is where the creative expressions are most imbalanced—Montgomery’s poetry feels off the cuff, but the design still reads somewhat forced. Presumably, the goal is to be on the same page.
