One of the kicks of reviewing Area’s collections is trying to come up with words that describe Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk’s eccentric vision. Vogue has called their seasonal muses disco Valkyries, downtown darlings, and retro-futuristic space angels, among other things. Let’s christen this season’s Area woman a multiculti glamour-puss with a soupçon of sass. She’s resplendent in squiggle-crystal sweats with a twist of Veruschka braids, insouciant in a tinsel-trimmed suit with matching earrings, and here to serve face in a peach turban and off-the-shoulder tunic.
The diversity of the new offering can be chalked up to Fogg and Panszczyk’s recent inclusive turn. Now alongside their shimmery, embossed catsuits there’s also practical daywear for women of all sizes and styles. For Resort, they’ve doubled down on the athluxury-after-dark proposition, with leggings and sweats sitting beside bright pink silky separates and bias-cut wrap dresses with plunging fronts. The best piece award goes to a pearl-print button-down that is all kinds of business-casual catty.
All this was dusted with a Middle Eastern flair. The region represents a big portion of Area’s business, but the aesthetic interpretation birthed some hit-or-miss decisions. The fez hats, for example, felt a bit dinky. Fogg and Panszczyk conceived the lookbook as a protest against Saudi Arabia’s now-repealed legislation that forbade women from driving. Political commentary is new ground for Area, and it’s something the label should continue to explore. The design sensibilities are expertly honed; now it’s time for the designers to define how their sexy, femme-fatale vision fits into contemporary society.
