In this season’s couture collections, there have been plenty of gowns that speak in hushed, moneyed tones, but a growing cadre of newcomers—perhaps not coincidentally, many of whom are American—are making fashion for people who prefer to dress out loud. Area’s Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk are among this new group.
Technically, the New York–based designers are couture-adjacent; even guests on the official schedule must be sponsored by members. The duo recently restructured, dividing their output into ready-to-wear and one-offs, the better to give each category its due, but they believe that their made-to-measure work does indeed measure up. “I’m quite confident in saying that if you looked at a Parisienne or a Roman Alta Moda brand, I feel like we’re operating on the same level of craft,” says Panszczyk, from Area’s Canal Street atelier.
In recent seasons, Fogg and Panszczyk have dazzled New York with collections that marry showgirl crystals and outlandish silhouettes with technically ambitious tailoring; Beyoncé and Michelle Obama have become clients. Their 14-look couture debut showcases that range, and their lookbook, which stars Precious Lee and Yasmin Wijnaldum, is a sort of statement of intent. This is most certainly not old-world couture, with its strictly sample size casting. “Difference for us is a positive thing,” Fogg says.
Lee opens the lookbook in a black smoking, featuring extravagant metalwork trimming the cuffs. The designers, who are catholic in their references, said they were looking at the coin embroideries of Berber peoples for the jacket’s embellishments, as well as for a pair of delicate and quite dreamy dresses made from thousands of individually hand-finished circles of organza. The rib cage pieces, embroidered with Swarovski crystals in India and assembled on Canal Street, look destined for the Grammys or concert stages, once IRL events ramp back up again.
Cake dresses whose tiers are fashioned from duchesse satin fully panniered in tulle do take their cues, Panszczyk said, from the couture of Emanuel Ungaro, Yves Saint Laurent, and Cristobal Balenciaga, but the Area designers constructed them so they are open on one side. Wijnaldum flashes skin from her shoulders to the crystal-encrusted tops of the black leather platform clogs that Area will be selling with their third ready-to-wear drop later this year. Definitely not your grandmother’s couture.
