When someone writes the history of this era, they ought to take a look at Rachel Comey’s recent outings. By her own description, the first collection she designed after the 2016 election was “angry.” The one after that—Spring ’18—found Comey swallowing that anger, setting her jaw, and getting down to work, making utilitarian-minded garments that reflected a “just get on with it” attitude. This season: escape. At an appointment today, she explained that she was “ready for some beauty and some lightness” at long last, and figured her devoted fans were feeling the same way. Thus her new clothes conjure a welcome joie de vivre, looking, by and large, like the kinds of things you’d pack for a trip to the Aegean.
Or perhaps, more accurately, Comey’s duds are what a woman recently returned from the Greek islands would wear to keep her vacation memories close as she pounds the city streets. With its prints riffing on Doric columns, sailor stripes, fishing-net mesh, and goddess pleats, the collection was fairly faithful to its getaway theme, one underscored by airy silhouettes and tender ruffles and draping. But Comey is smart enough to steer well clear of pastiche—she applied her frothy elements judiciously and used her signature off proportions and asymmetries to keep her looks fresh and urbane. All in all, this was a collection that went down very easy, as intended. It was meant to provide the tapped-in Comey woman with a little fashion relief.
