Tibi designer Amy Smilovic celebrated 25 years in business — no small feat in fashion — with a blowout runway show Saturday afternoon for 800 people.
Smilovic has carved out a niche for smart, beautiful basics-with-a-twist and one of the best parts of the show was seeing how her customers styled their own Tibi pieces in such a personal way — the Stella crispy cargo pants with white tank top, Bottega Veneta bag and strappy heels; the asymmetric Tibi denim shirtdress buttoned just so, with one sleeve on and one off to reveal a sexy shoulder; the whisper soft Tibi shrunken cashmere cardigan, artfully twisted and tied into a kind of scarf over a button-down and jeans, or the oversize Liam blazer worn as a dress.
That’s what she’s done in the last three seasons of her Instagram Live “Style Class” series — she’s given women the power to do it themselves.
On the runway for spring 2023, Smilovic offered new building blocks, executed in a palette of black, white, celery green, lavender and ochre, playing with sheers, and as always, just the right amount of quirky.
She made a case for the long white denim skirt, and the trouser skirt, too, worn with sheer tanks. In the tailoring department, she showed black wide-legged pants with suspenders that had a throwback feeling, and a new shaped-to-the-waist blazer silhouette, alongside her trademark menswear-inspired jackets sliced open over the elbows. A crisp cotton sleeveless peplum top also looked great as a put-together, warmer-weather alternative to a jacket.
Speaking of beating the heat, there were several breezy dresses to do so, including a white poplin shirtdress with sheer hem, and a black sleeveless sheer seamed sheer style, showing the bright color of a silk slip underneath. And Smilovic’s tried-and-true whisper-thin convertible cashmere cocoon sweater came in a new slouchier model.
Adding something close to the heart is also one the tenets of the designer’s philosophy of “creative pragmatism.” “Clothes should make you feel,” she said during a preview.
Hence the funny T-shirts from “Barry,” “The Righteous Gemstones” and other HBO shows sprinkled throughout. That, like so much else at Tibi, came about organically out of a relationship with the network’s longtime head of comedy, Amy Gravitt, who first reached out to Smilovic with personal styling questions, then invited her to speak to her team of largely female executives in L.A.
“It all has meaning to us at Tibi because we went to their offices. It’s not a collaboration, I’m not selling their product, it’s just people we like to be around,” she said. “If it weren’t for the Emmys, we’d have the funniest front row.”
