The poetry by Robert Montgomery that has been the beating heart of Each x Other all along now beats even louder thanks to its relevant themes of belonging, impermanence, and the power of art. Whereas the Pre-Fall collection introduced a Mexican influence and the label’s emphatic openness by emblazoning pieces with No Walls Between Us, today’s lineup came at the same stance with a different message. The first line, “The city is a magic sculpture of the group mind,” ostensibly revisited John Donne’s “no man is an island,” driving home the point that collectives create things. Backstage, the brand’s cofounder and creative director related this back to fashion; a label also functions as a group mind, whether or not the results are magic.
There were sparks here and there: a cropped leather jacket in denim blue tacked with a wavy leather belt; a bottle green velvet and black leather tracksuit; and the novelty suiting, whether in peony pink and dusky blue, or boasting ruffled lapels. Their “cool girl tailoring” stood out for its cutouts along sleeves and hipbones—eye-catching, if not essential. The ribbed detailing corseting a classic coat was clever.
On the flip side, mules and slippers ornamented with goat hair were remarkably impractical, even more so than what’s already on the market, because the fur swished from the sides so that wearers became inadvertent street sweepers. Silk scarves pinned like sashes to sweaters weren’t objectionable, but they looked a little forced. The free verse read by a woman with a seductive British accent over-top an electronic beat encouraged us to “take each day as it comes,” and reminded us that “we all forget to be homesick.” Duly noted. To loosely borrow from Marshall McLuhan, the challenge Each x Other faces season after season is to ensure that its medium—clothing—is as strong as its message.
