It is a brave choice to work with head to toe black. The lack of color means that it is left completely to cut, texture, and drape to create visual interest. Yet Bourie designer Eun-hye Jo hoped to launch a pointed defense of her favorite shade this season. “I’ve played with color and print before, but this time I wanted to really go for it,” she says. “Actually, I worried a lot about it because a lot of people always say black is over, but there are a lot of ways to work with it.” (A bit of red and white mottled cord, for instance, piped just along the cutout hem of a jacket was a nice touch).
She began with the image of la garçon, or a “boy-like girl” of the sort that wears Converse Chucks with little black socks. Many of the silhouettes were mannish and a little undone—long flocked velvet blazers with raw hems, for instance—and did by nature recall the work of another garçon-minded designer and her compatriots. Pleated skirts hit mid-calf and played with asymmetry at the hem; a chunk might be cut out from the back. Strongest were the shearling pieces, which Jo worked into sleek coats and neat ruched dresses patched with stiff wool. The way they tightly hugged the body resembled velvet, but felt elevated in the right way.
