Mark Badgley and James Mischka would have fit right in at one of Truman Capote’s 1960s society soirees. They are two very charming men living in a somewhat forgotten era of American fashion, when women wore couture to lunch and Claire McCardell to their summer homes on Nantucket. The designers, it seems, are intent on bringing some of that Swan style into 2018, as evidenced by their McCardell–meets–Babe Paley inspired Pre-Fall collection. It was all-American in a Park Avenue kind of way: classic, crisp red belted shirt dresses with flared skirts, ivory blouses decorated with pearls, picnic tops worn over skinny Hepburn-esque pants, and column evening gowns with novelty ribbons and shoulder embellishments.
After a couple of seasons that saw Badgley and Mischka experimenting with younger trends like athleisure and sexy, slinky silhouettes, this collection felt true to the DNA of this New York brand. The clothes are made for a highly specific client who spends her winters in Palm Beach and her summers in Southampton. She’s a woman who shops at Neimans and drinks bellinis on Madison Avenue. Much like Capote did at his parties, Badgley and Mischka know how to play to their audience. This season, they’ve given her a time capsule to travel back to the days when being a part of high society—or dressing like you were—was a much more important mark of status than the number of Instagram followers you have.
