At Kith, Ronnie Fieg continues shaping collections in his image—and that’s a good thing. For his prefall lineup, also known as summer, Fieg created his dream European vacation wardrobe. “Last year for my 40th birthday, I traveled to Europe for like three weeks,” he explained over Zoom. “I started in Nice at Du Cap. From there we went to St. Tropez and from there traveled to Italy for a bit.” He added, “That’s where I started to put together the line plan and started to think about fabrics and fits.”
Spending three weeks in the French Riviera and Italy may be out of reach for most people, but now looking like you do—really looking like you do—is not. There are simple crochet T-shirts and multiweave striped crochet shirts; button-downs in light-as-air, subtly striped cotton gauze; and a beautiful shirt or overshirt made in India from cotton eyelet. (Zoom in, and you can see the pockets at the hips have been carefully placed to match the eyelet pattern on the body.) The color palette reflects the gorgeous locales that likely inspired the clothes: the various shades of beige, white, and brown, punctuated by mustard yellows, forest green, powder blues, and crimson red.
Because this is a collection conceived under the spell of a vacation, the silhouettes are universally relaxed. Striped linen pants are pleated and cut “a little bit cropped” so that they look better with sandals—Fieg “loves wearing sandals with this kind of pant.” There are two boxy “suits,” one with a short-sleeve, shawl-collar “shirt” (or jacket) with a wrap front in striped tropical wool and another with a standard two-button jacket with a boxy fit. The former is worn with classic loafers and the latter with thick-banded suede sandals, but they both have a classic, relaxed appeal.
Even the accessories—oversized tote bags in raffia (there is also a matching Yankees cap in the natural material) and little stamped Saffiano leather crossbody bags—suggest both practicality and luxury. (Don’t forget Fieg is a father: He knows a giant tote bag that can fit extra toys, along with grown-up necessities, is a must for travel.) Silk scarves knotted around the neck and worn underneath shirt and jacket collars perfectly capture a summer vibe. It’s a collection made for days spent under the Tuscan sun but one that may work even better in the punishing Manhattan heat.
