Gabriela Hearst sent over a resort box with no fewer than 37 fabric swatches, one more sumptuous than the next, and many of them recovered from deadstock supplies. Hearst’s modus operandi is to prove the mutual compatibility of luxury and sustainability, the thinking being that the more you normalize the likes of repurposed silk cotton voile and recycled stretch polyester, the more you problematize materials such as standard issue cotton and polyester, which require obscene amounts of water to grow, and virgin plastic to manufacture, repsectively. That said, there’s nothing normal in the least about Hearst’s materials. You need only brush your hand against the multi-ply of her handknit cashmere sweaters, this season with new bell sleeves, or take a longing glance at the fiery tie-dyed cashmere flannel of a sharply cut jacket.
The designer produced a short Zoe Ghertner-lensed video for the collection in the California desert in which she appears alongside her sister, riding a horse bareback. On the voiceover Hearst says, “my sustainable practice is exactly what that word is: it’s a practice. You never achieve perfection, but you have to start. We don’t have an option.” Few of the atmospheric films we’ve watched during these digital fashion weeks strike as natural a balance between authenticity and aspiration. As far as aspiration goes, there was certainly no scaling back of ambition in Hearst’s studio.
The collection’s stars are a black leather trench with hand-painted white leather lace “stripes” down its back, and another coat in that fire tie-dye, with a spectacular matching blanket shawl. Rounding it out is Hearst’s minimalist tailoring, made a little less minimal this season with a knotting detail on the lapel, and dresses and separates in cotton voile and denim-look linen with elevating metal-trimmed leather collar details and belts. Her new boots come with metal toe caps that took her seasons to get right. Hearst is forecasting a “bonfire” for our quarantine leggings and sweatpants. “We have to dream,” she says.
