Right around the time that the latest Awaveawake collection was presented from a Paris hotel suite, Solange Knowles debuted her striking new video for “Don’t Touch My Hair.” In it, she wears a white slip dress and a diaphanous overlayer that were remarkably similar to what this reviewer had just seen among the label’s offering. Without a single print, branding, or dramatic silhouettes, these two pieces were instantly recognizable—thus underscoring how designer Jaclyn Hodes has established a signature look with subtlety and grace. It helps that she doesn’t pivot much from season to season; Solange’s look, for instance, can be found in every collection, as can several of the other fluid chemises, bias skirts, and multi-way capes—all offered in either silk charmeuse, silk chiffon, or both. And because she only uses natural dyes, the colors remain within a limited yet flattering range that includes blush, jade, ivory, black, navy, and bronze. So what’s new in this collection? Well, the versatile paper-bag trousers, which pair particularly well with the standby wrap blouses, for starters. Hodes also pushed further into midi lengths, while proposing new gown styles such as a high-neck halter.
Given Awaveawake’s adaptable, indoor-outdoor approach, all those sensual peeks of skin seem inevitable, not forced. While Hodes’s eco commitment gives off a certain neo-nymph vibe, the outcome doesn’t feel limited to barefoot in the park. You need only watch British ingenue Flo Morrissey, who appears in the Spring collection video (filmed on Shiva Rose’s Pacific Palisades property) and sings its accompanying score; on her, the made-in-California clothes suggest a different femininity than projected by Solange. It’s as if they harmonize to whoever is wearing them.
