Gabriela Hearst has a passion for sharing the spotlight with women who have not gotten their due.
For her fall collection, she was inspired by Eileen Gray, the Irish artist, architect and furniture designer who was a pioneer of the Modernist movement starting in the 1920s — and whose Dragon chair, owned by Yves Saint Laurent, sold for 20 million euros in 2009, setting a record at auction for a piece of 20th-century furniture.
Gray had her own store in Paris named after an imaginary male owner called Jean Desert, which catered to Elsa Schiaparelli, Ezra Pound, James Joyce and other tastemakers.
“She learned how to fly planes. She was a trained painter. She taught herself how to do lacquer. She taught herself how to do weaving. She had this furniture store. She had an arch rivalry with Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe….She was with all these guys who became more famous than her, she disappears for 30 years and then she’s rediscovered, which happens a lot with the women that I study, like, somebody else takes the ideas. But somehow we always try to make the story right again,” said Hearst, who was inspired by the austerity of Gray’s home and furniture designs, and her paintings, to embrace a more minimalist moment.
The sentiment translated to menswear-inspired tailoring and outerwear in Hearst’s soft-touchable, recycled double face cashmere; napa leather shirt jackets and flared trousers, boucle knit pieces, all in a palette of red, white, chocolate brown, mustard yellow, cream and charcoal — colors found in Gray’s weavings.
The designer’s continuing collaboration with women’s collective Manos del Uruguay produced an ivory cable turtleneck sweater and hand knit dress that could be stand ins for coats they were so lush. On the other end of the knit gauge spectrum, a striped pleated trench, button-down shirt and flared pant look was a refined, near weightless take on knit dressing.
Like many designers here this week, Hearst worked a lot in leather, and her black napa artisanal puzzle pieced coat was next-level.
Not forgetting dress up nights, silk cady cutout gowns in white or black had custom hardware molded to bare hips.
“She was obsessed with materials,” said Hearst, pointing to how metalwork on the gowns was inspired by Gray’s famous, oft-reproduced E1027 side table. “I don’t want to claim any comparison with her, but I understand by working in a different discipline how materials can really drive your creations.”
