Whoever thought Luella Bartley and Katie Hillier would be on the same page as Tom Ford? Chalk and cheese as they may be, London’s Hillier Bartley and Mr. Ford are aligned in at least one matter: They’re revealing Fall clothes available in stores today, whilst practically everyone else is showcasing their collections for Spring 2017. So here we are: Scroll though the Hillier Bartley lookbook and you’ll at first see pinstripe suiting and overcoats rather than the wafty dresses which are occupying most runways—so far—at New York Fashion Week. Conundrums abound at this transitional point in the fashion system. It is hot today in New York and in London, as it always is in early September, so is this really the ideal time to ask women to invest in clothes that will become practical only when it gets cold? Would later make more sense? Or are intelligent women actually miraculously capable of holding a thought longer than the few seconds in which an image pops up on a screen?
Questions, questions. Sensible, definitive answers there can be none, except that one enduring and immutable psychological law can’t be altered: An urgent compulsion to buy fashion is only ever fueled by desire, rather than imminent need. Seen through that lens, Hillier Bartley—Katie Hillier on accessories, Luella Bartley on clothes—stands out as a collection of characterful attractions not to be found elsewhere. In a time when tailoring has mostly gone by the board, they’re working on reappropriating pantsuits with a “rakish” swagger inspired by British heroes and antiheroes from David Bowie to Oscar Wilde to the gangster Kray twins, who dominated London’s East End and Soho in the ’60s.
Apart from their distinctive ankle-strapped, banana-shaped trousers, it’s their new silk pieces which hit the mark: a high-waisted icy blue velvet pantsuit; a peach chinoiserie embroidered dressing gown, a full-sleeved, high-collared salmon pink tunic. Hillier’s bags, stabbed with conceptual safety pins for fastenings, and her hooped earrings, each hung with a single pearl, ensure that nothing appears retro or costumey. See-now-buy-now this collection may be, but it takes time to build a reputation.
