Christopher Esber earned his stripes working with a tailor. “I always start with a trouser, a blazer, what she’s wearing, how she’s wearing it,” the designer offered during a showroom visit. No surprise, then, that the 30-year-old’s baseline skews masculine. Some pieces featured the button-in/unraveling trend that’s cropping up everywhere this season. That can feel fiddly, but he also offered some intriguing multi-wear ideas, such as an “unbutton-where-you-please” dress that spiraled up the body, or lapels that could be worn either classically on the outside of a jacket or folded in against the skin. Some dresses could be broken out as just a top, or just a skirt. For those who have midriffs worth baring, the ribbed knits could be shortened by a handspan, too.
Esber has been listening to ’90s music of late, which was one of the reasons he decided to tackle tie-dye, which he stripped down with a little help from digital tools until the pattern looked more organic than hippie: “I love how spontaneous tie-dyeing is; it’s different every time. We wanted to clean it up and control it in a way,” he said of this season’s green-on-white digital print. The spare, slightly vegetal print cropped up on a shirt, one of several woven with aluminum to appear crushed yet hold its shape.
Making clothes that don’t overpower the wearer is an obsession of Esber’s; one of his challenges is to do so in trans-seasonal ways—after all, Australia’s summer is the northern hemisphere’s winter. He did his best with “Fanta orange”—one of the season’s trickier colors—and mint-hued looks, but seemed more at home with monochromatic basics like denim-satin separates, a caramel trench, or a crisp pair of white trousers. All of those stood nicely on their own.
