Arjé founders Bessie Afnaim Corral and Oliver Corral are living what can only be termed a real-life fashion fairy tale. They hit a sweet spot straight out of the gate, and now they can hardly turn out those shearlings fast enough. One of the upshots of the success of their see-now, buy-now model is they’ve had to work out how to function in double time, keeping their winning pop-up recipe while creating an olive branch of a Pre-Fall collection that lets clamoring department stores in on the action.
Arjé is still a small operation, and because the Corrals were on the shop floor in New York they really got to know what their customer wants. Armed with firsthand feedback, they smartly shaped “Chapter 4” to build on the pieces that worked well last fall but with an unexpected twist.
“We wanted to turn the volume up a bit,” commented Bessie. That means a new wave of easily layered pieces for the sophisticated urban nomad, with lots of striped silk tops, long mannish shirts, and easy knits to throw over roomy front-slit trousers or a skinny pant, one of the collection’s more structured offerings. It would be nice to see more of those.
As the season evolves, staples in shades of green, from sage to forest and emerald, will join the mix. A few standouts: a cropped trench in leather and fabric with a generous lapel and roll-up sleeves; a suede bomber with leather stripe details; and blazers with the brand’s signature slit sleeves. One of several savvy details: coats have striped linings that chime with other striped tops, so one piece sort of segues into the next.
Flow is, of course, the whole point. Arjé is eyeing the West Coast for the label’s pop-up next summer.
