It’s been a year and a half since Derek Lam presented a 10 Crosby collection at New York Fashion Week. In the interim, he sold the brand to a private label firm and refashioned his role from that of designer-owner to chief creative officer. Behind-the-scenes moves of this kind will make a difference in how the company is run, and probably in Lam’s day-to-day routine, but contemporary shoppers pay attention to the product, not the business pages. The product, too, is different.
Like many other collections these days, this one looks more casual than its before-times predecessors. A bomber jacket and a slim puffer have replaced the faux fur chubby Lam showed last time. Outerwear, he thinks, will be newly important post-pandemic, but it will be more hardworking. The mix-and-match suiting he was doing back in early 2020 has been swapped for workwear separates, still pulled-together but lower key. Logo tees and sweats make an appearance alongside rib-knit sweaters. And there’s also a pair of printed blousy dresses that conjure the famous Helmut Newton shot of Lisa Taylor.
“Classic, sexy, cool,” Lam said, describing the label’s vibes. “Item by item, it’s been an investigation; do those three elements exist?” The two dresses lean sexier than the rest of the collection, which seems like the right direction to go as the world begins to finally loosen up again.
