These were all fighting words to me. They were never good enough, I wanted to know why. “Because I said so” was never good enough. I needed the why. Not because I’m stubborn, I’m also not overly nosy. Rather it’s that “rationale” has always made things sticky. It’s why I got a D in Algebra but an A in statistics. If I know that in a room, 10 people love the show VEEP, 5 didn’t, then there is a probability that 33.3% of the people have no sense of humor. That’s easier for me to understand than (a+b)=c[/a]. note: math nerds, don’t chime in here - I have no idea what I wrote, but you get the point.

But here’s another benefit of knowing the why, and it’s a BIG one. WHY gives you the knowledge of thinking. Note I didn’t say thinking for knowledge. Because the point of “knowing” isn’t to then wash our hands of it and move on, it’s to use it as a base to continually grow from, poke at, make decisions. And when you have knowledge, you have confidence. The two come hand in hand. Confidence not born from the conceit that you have it all figured out, but just the comfort that you know why you’ve made your choices and that if they change tomorrow, you’ll know why.

So let’s take a trend and break it down using this logic. The WSJ had a recent “trend” article: “Trashing New Clothes” The proof of the trend was laid out by interviewing key opinion makers in fashion on how they distress an item to make it appear worn/torn/lived in. But the closest thing that got to a “why” was a quote from Athena Hewett (of the skincare line Monastery) that if your trainers look to new it’s like showing up to that first day of school not knowing the rules yet.

Ok, we’re getting closer. At least one idea is presented here as the root of why we desire something. The avoidance of embarrassment, the desire to fit in. Here are other reasons that hit home, the WHYS:

• Craving stability, things that last the test of time, proof of a time when quality mattered, when dupe was a bad word, when items weren’t demanded in 12 hours.

• Comfort in the knowledge you made the right choice, that you loved what you bought so much that you wore it again and again. Smart no waste.

• Assurance you know who you are - you didn’t get suckered in to someone else’s vision - evidenced by the test of time, long after the trend has come and gone.

So here, I show you the proof. Not just the outfits, but the WHY behind them. I’M ALSO SHARING LINKS - PLEASE KNOW I do not have any connection with the brands I’m linking to other than I just really like what they’re doing, I wear their things and I love you knowing about them.

So here’s what I’ve created around just one key item, the short.

When I want to feel interesting, through color depth and textures. It makes me feel a little more intellectual, without the pretense. Trend or no trend, just what I want. Now.

1. Crinkle navy top 2. A Celine bag 3. Comb Necklace 4. Gold sandal

When I want to feel smart by being able to be all work from 9-5 but then sitting at a bar with a friend and feeling like I’m ready for a Martini and not a discussion about the P&L.

1. The ribbed cardigan. 2. The ostrich pump

When I’m traveling, and moving between meetings, and dinners, and lunches and I’m put together but nothing is meant to be overly formal. Creative and pragmatic is how I feel - lots of options and one short that can be worn over and over without feeling on repeat.

Look 1: 1. An ultra light buttondown says polish effortlessly, 2. A pony hair belt gives texture 3. The Celine bag and 4. The ostrich pump

Look 2: 1. A ring 3 tee 2. The best sunglasses I’ve ever put on 3. A Myriam Schaefer bag 4. These weird but simple sandals

Here I can manipulate the cardigan and make it in to a summer top - imagine if I was wearing cutt of denim or something overly designed out on the bottom - it would miss the mark. For me. The modernity of the shorts balance out the craftiness of how I’ve styled my knit. I use the short to dial that down a bit.

1. The cardigan wrapped to look like a top 2. An old giant Balenciaga bag that’s woven and huge and I’ve never seen for sale outside of Monaco (the smaller ones I see everywhere). 3. The Chloe jelly sandals from last year.

I love the dark brown because it’s the unexpected complement to baby blue; and it makes bright white quite sophisticated. White should be simple, but sometimes it can make a fit feel far more basic than you want. I don’t feel basic. I feel great.

Look 1: 1. A blue sweater thats robust but light 2. An old celine bag 3. My old loafers Look 1: a white bodysuit from Danskin 2: my hoops I live in - these are big 3. An old bag from The Row bought from my favorite store Max and 4. Animal print Shoes

And then I think about longevity - can I wear it when the weather is too stubborn to admit that it is spring? Can I wear it in early fall when I want to embrace the season but it’s still a bit hot out. Can I wear with things I have new, things I have old? Yes.

Look 1: 1. With a big sweater tone on tone 2. Over a crisp white shirt and 3. Long grey socks and sandals with a good weird welt that is feminine but modern and 5. My fave necklace from a silver stall in Cabo Mexico.

Look 2: 1. With my favorite wool plaid tibi shirt from last fall 2. With brogues that manage to be feminine and modern and tough all the same 3. Off set by this (sexy, yes) lariat.

So remember, always think about THE WHY. Because I said so. Just kidding.

The Spring Collection is tethered to the notion of grit and elegance. You know that triple axel jump in figure skating? Swan like, fluid. But the amount of grueling work to get to that is incontestable. I’m craving elegance in my life, I’d like to move about swan like. But that’s contrary to my reality and I would likely feel in costume, disconnected to who I am. We fixated on merging the two concepts for Spring 26. How can we just feel more elegant, chic but so very much like our real selves?

Here are the 5 steps from concept to runway:

1. IDEATION. The design process starts with the craving, what we strive for, what we know to be our constraints. That creative and pragmatic approach that always gets us in the right place. We build a board with the musts - the shapes, the colors, the contradictions. Traci begins the sketching and draping process, we go to Milan to find the fabrics and we work with our atelier to bring the ideas to life.

2. PROTOS. Traci and I meet, daily, hourly, to try on the pieces right from the sewing machine. We do this in my office, I’m trying on various shoes to see what feels right, how I stand in an item, if I can imagine the pieces from my closet that I’ll pull out and wear with the news. This is the most stressful stage, it’s where I’m doubting how deep a pleat should be - we’re wrangling practicality with making a statement, flattering vs. just really interesting. Sometimes it gets heated, there’s no point in mincing words at this stage, and that’s fine. No intense discourse means we haven’t pushed for the best. Tension is good.

   

3. STYLE OUT. This is when we bring in Sacha, our model, and Sarah and I get to work. Up till this point, Sarah’s been out of the process. Traci and I gut check with her, we get inspired by her, but the actual design takes place in a more secretive way. We do this so Sarah has completely fresh eyes. This is the stage where I want to really see the collection through her eyes. Our first pass of styling takes place with Traci out of the room - it’s important to separate the design from the styling - it helps me see where we may have some disconnects or opportunities to push further. Traci joins up with us and we start to create the looks that will head down the runway

4. PRESENTATION TO THE STYLISTS. As all the casting for runway is happening and the deciding of the looks, we have to photograph the line for our sales team and I show them all the easy ways to wear the items, how runway translates to reality, and what’s important to point out to people like Sherri McMullen when she visits for her appointment. I show how a dress transforms to a skirt, how pleats that may seem exaggerated get tamed with a belt, how a skirt feels quite bare and sexy but gets relaxed immediately with my favorite sweater. THIS STAGE is critical because the stylists are seeing the collection for the first time and I need to get their eye adjusted quickly, the items that have more friction are the hardest to embrace at first and I just need them to believe in Traci, Sarah and I unequivocally that if we love it and know we will wear it they can be confident convincing the small stores we work with do feel the same.

5. RUNWAY. No going back now. We’ve selected the models, the soundtrack, the set design. Now it’s up to others to decide.

Grit and Elegance? Our life. Because after that show, the unbelievable hard work happens - the rounds and rounds of fitting - did you know some items are fit 5 to 6 times - perfectionism is a must at this stage. At the creation stage it can break the flow, but when it comes to the technical fittings it’s a liability if it’s absent. We tweak, check the details, shipping, packing, unpacking.

You can view everything here to see how it landed: CLICK HERE

And now we are on to Style Class. Where we talk, explain, answer DMs, and get to wear it in real time. All of us, from Fana, to Grace to Keturah.

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