Sofía Sanchez de Betak’s Chufy collections are always inspired by and designed for her far-flung travels; each billowing dress or floaty blouse is like a wearable memory of her favorite places, from Kenya’s Masai Mara to Kyoto. Her pre-fall 2022 collection follows the same rubric, drawing on the landscape and attitude of Australia. As a teenager, she spent time on the continent and fulfilled her dream of diving the Great Barrier Reef. That influenced a range of deep-sea prints—coral, sea urchins, waves, anemones—seen on familiar caftans, organic-cotton blouses, and pajama sets.
More surprisingly, the coral motif appeared on a quilted zip-up bomber jacket; on our Zoom, De Betak was wearing an abstract watercolor version over a simple black turtleneck. It’s Chufy’s first piece of outerwear and represents an evolution toward true wardrobing for the brand, with clothes you can wear year-round wherever you are—on holiday, at home, or at work. A second-skin jersey turtleneck in a range of prints and solids was another new addition, a sleeker look for days you aren’t in the mood for volume and a pragmatic layering piece for winterizing those dreamy dresses. “I’m surrounded by prints all day, and sometimes I just need a clean slate,” De Betak explained.
All of that said, she isn’t giving up on the brand’s peripatetic ethos anytime soon. Her family’s next big trip is a tour of Egypt, which will doubtless offer a trove of ideas and inspiration for her 2022 and 2023 collections.
