SHOW: Eckhaus Latta – S/S 2017
LOCATION: Seaward Park, Essex St.
DATE: Sept. 10
START TIME: 12PM + 21mins
TOP INSTA LOOK: Fresh off the designers’ collaboration with artist Brendan Fowler’s project Election Reform, the show exhibited a timely focus on the contentious U.S. election, with several key pieces featuring the brand’s name and “Election Reform” embroidered over the top for those keen to flash their political smarts.
BEHIND THE SCENES: The designer opened-up the casting call to non-models over the Labor Day weekend at Eckhaus Latta’s basement studio in Chinatown, holding the show at the nearby Seward Park in the Lower East Side, where guests were gifted sandalwood-scented fans.
OFF PROBATION: A forest green black featuring a multi-colored circular print, teamed with matching high-waisted trousers and white ankle boots.
GOOD BEHAVIOUR BOND: A strappy, metallic silver silk and whispy chiffon crop top, styled with white, floor-length, wide-leg cargo pants and statement drop earring.
INSPIRED BY: Gender fluidity, anti-establishment, the U.S. election and the designers’ desire to break free from notion of being kids trapped in their local high school’s art department.
POP CULTURE-NOD: MoMA PS1 director Klaus Biesenbach delivering an interactive lecture in the Liz Christy Community Garden an the intersection of East Houston and Bowery about the role of fashion as part of the fabric of the new art community, followed by a spirited Q&A with attendees over frozen Limencello shots with white-and-yellow environmentally-friendly paper straws.
WEAR IT TO: Brunch at Mexican longtime Stanton Street staple Sombrero following an all-night old school ‘90s hip-hop party at Sons of Essex, where you rub shoulders with the Lower East Side’s cool kids amid the Prohibition era-inspired surroundings as you debate the latest political candidate’s gaff while waiting in line at the bar.
OVERHEARD COURTSIDE: “This is a much better location than their February show at PS1 during the snowstorm at 10PM on a school night.”
SPOTTED: Hari Neff, Lynn Yaeger, Lucy Chadwick, Kai Kuhne, Susie Lau, Mickey Boardman, India Salvor Menuez, Hamish Bowles, Nate Lowman.
COLOR WHEEL: Emerald green, silver, pink, grey, lime, sand, navy, lemon, burgundy, grey.
BEATS: Soundtrack by Dev Hynes.
THE DOCKET: Ever the nonconformist label, designers Zoe Latta and Mike Eckhaus served up an array of simplistic, politically-inspired looks that demonstrated the label’s graduation from the art department to the serious fashion power player tribe. From February’s show inside a yurt in Queens amid a raging ice storm outside, the label’s latest offering on the streets of the LES on a balmy summer day served up a series of looks sure to fly off the shelves come spring.
