Arjé just turned three years old, and revisiting the brand’s past collections on Vogue Runway serves to remind how quickly it’s grown and evolved (even by the rapid-fire standards of late-2010s fashion). Husband-and-wife duo Bessie and Oliver Corral started the line with a radical and ambitious see-now-buy-now concept premised on their decades of experience and an understanding of what will resonate, what will sell, and how much they should produce. Over the years, they’ve deviated from that model here and there; a few collections were shown the “traditional way” six months in advance, while others were revealed as the clothes were available. Fall 2020 is in the former category; the Corrals debuted it in New York last week and will now present it to buyers in Paris, who will place their orders for August deliveries.
If it’s a little hard to keep track of it all at times, the takeaway is that we’re in a moment where designers can be nimble and try out new things. Going forward, the sense is that the Corrals will continue showing their collections on the regular calendar for wholesale, but will reserve special see-now-buy-now drops for their e-commerce site, where their customers are most engaged. It’s a strategy that worked well in December with their popular shearling coats; since their debut in 2018, they’ve become so popular that the Corrals couldn’t keep them in stock, and their waitlist grew into the thousands. The customer’s response exceeded their wildest expectations, especially considering how crowded the market is; shearlings are a major trend right now, many of them by designers with much more name recognition than Arjé’s.
Still, it was easy to understand the frenzy: Not only were Arjé’s coats fully reversible—two shearlings for the price of one!—and beautifully made, they managed to be both anonymous and statement-making. They looked a bit vintage, but with modern flourishes, like extra room in the arms so you can easily layer underneath, and almost zero hardware (which adds weight and fuss to other shearlings). Most importantly, they felt “worth it” because they’re timeless, not trendy.
The lesson for the Corrals wasn’t to become a shearling-only business, but to view every item they design in a similar light. How can a blazer, a blouse, or a pair of jeans nail the same balance of ease and strength; how can a sweater feel timeless, yet still turn heads? Their fall 2020 collection was an experiment in that item-driven approach, with surprising Western touches—see: the fringed suede jackets and double-face capes—and shades of ’60s psychedelia, most notably in their new paisley print. The Corrals generally avoid prints, particularly ornate ones like this, but they liked the history and symbolism of paisley: Its earliest origins date back to third-century Persia when it was designed to represent life and eternity. (It’s easy to see why it was later picked up by mid-century musicians like Jimi Hendrix and George Harrison.) The Corrals called it “complete abundance,” and lined their double-face cashmere capes and top-stitched blazers with silk paisleys, a subtle way to envelope yourself in good vibes.
The other news this season was denim, a category with even more competition than shearlings. Rather than design the same worn-in, vintage-inspired jeans you can find in every store, their raw Japanese denim jackets and flares were deliberately polished. These aren’t the kinds of jeans you hem with a pair of scissors on your kitchen floor. It’s fair to assume Arjé’s retailers were asking for more “daywear” options, or possibly lower-priced ones, but it’s still the sumptuous, keep-forever stuff that gives Arjé its edge.
