Jack Miner and Lily Miesmer bridge the gap between the precious and the perverse. Their clothes could be described as “classic with a twist,” but that’s an exceptionally dull way to put it. Instead of, say, adding puff sleeves to an oxford shirt, they want to take a piece like a t-shirt dress or a pair of brown slacks and make it weird, almost unnerving.
“What could be creepier than a white leather suit? Why would we do it in any other color?” Miesmer says of their three piece suit which is, in fact, Crest-commercial white. “We wanted something that felt luxurious but a little bit pervy, which is the basic mood for the collection.”
When they launched Interior last year, their twee instincts came to the fore via silk shirts embroidered with domestic scenes and pajama sets with vegetal baubles attached. This season, they’re plunging into darker, kinkier wells of inspiration. That might not be apparent when you see one of their garments on its own—a well tailored blazer is a well tailored blazer—but in their recent lookbook, shot in the style of the Scarlett Johansson thriller Under the Skin, Miner and Miesmer’s affinity for all things dark and twisty is clear. (For instance, the aforementioned suit is photographed with white tights in lieu of the pants.) “You’re supposed to react to things on an emotional level,” Miesmer says. “Before it was sentimental. But now coming out of the pandemic and being a woman, there’s a newfound sexuality that doesn’t feel like it’s about objectification.”
The white suit is joined in the provocative category by a patent leather bra; a micro mini skirt and matching bra top made out of tangerine tassels; another mini skirt and oversized blazer made of a rumpled-on-purpose fabric that resembles a paper bag; and a seafoam green netted dress with a hood that is appropriately named after the siren Circe.
As far as practicality goes, there are a few T-shirts and T-shirt dresses made with exposed seams, a cozy sweater that resembles two halves stitched together haphazardly with red thread, and furry coats that look just a little mangy (in a rakish way). With each piece, the wearer feels powerful, and the onlooker is a little afraid.
