Natasa Cagalj pushed her design out of its comfort zone this season: zebra print, leopard spot, velvet, and fringe aren’t associations that leap to mind at the mention of Ports 1961. Cagalj attempted to challenge that—and herself. “I wanted to elevate it this season, to touch day-to-evening dressing more,” she said. As a trusted women’s ally who has built up a rep for tailoring a good trouser suit and the kind of loose but not schlumpy clothes that make nice weekend-wear, including big shirts and interesting knits, her designs have so far patrolled the perimeters of corporate work and domestic leisure. The time, she has opened the door on more dressed-up after-hours occasions, coming up with a few nifty solutions for the vast constituency of women for whom the very term occasionwear is cause for a collective cringe.
In the studio there was a standout oyster charmeuse tunic with an asymmetric, frill-trimmed trail to one side, worn over matching trousers—a look that could cover a multitude of events, right up to vow exchanging. For some reason, that almost-bridal two-piece was edited out of the lookbook, though a variation on the theme is seen here in black, with fringe at the hem of the tunic and pouring from a trouser slit (the latter being courtesy of a pair of white fringed boots). As for day, a collarless teddy bear coat was more in Cagalj’s cozy comfort zone, and who wouldn’t want a cuddle of that?
