Perhaps because he’s a new parent, Joseph Altuzarra was thinking about heritage and tradition this season. He’s one half Chinese, one half French, but it’s safe to say that his French roots have been more central to his brand story up until now. For fall he changed the plot. A box full of his Chinese grandmother’s decades-old clothes, which he inherited due to a move, was his starting point. He and his team unpacked the box piece by piece in his studio and picked up on small details: the wrinkles where the clothes had been folded, the handmade darts of jackets, the unique necklines of the cheongsams.
Those observations found their way into Altuzarra’s new collection, the overall impression of which was more elegant and ladylike than his recent outings. “I wanted it to feel purer,” he said. To start, he showed portrait-collar coats and suits, with exposed darts at the waist and pressed folds down the arms. The portrait collars and the built-in crinkles made a reappearance at the end in a silvery material that was 95 percent metal and 5 percent silk. In between, he devoted his energies to dresses.
The classic cheongsam got a reevaluation, with a cellophane silk overlayer for a “seen through the haze of time” effect and a second removable Western collar as a two-for-one bonus. There were also soft ribbed knit dresses in the same body-limning shape and gauzy shirtdresses in deep watercolor shades of blue and green. Antique jewelry from the New York shop De Vera—coral stickpins, Baroque pearl rings, Tahitian pearl earrings—added a grace note.
If Altuzarra mostly abandoned the bohemian and the homespun of last season, he didn’t reject frivolity. His clutch bags were embellished with colorful plumes—he called them “feathery pets”—as were his shoes. That said, you’d like to see him let loose a bit more. There’s so much goodwill around the designer that he could consider taking a risk or two. What happens when his lady lets her hair down, for instance? And while we’re on the subject of heritage, Altuzarra is a New York designer, and if ever there was a moment when his hometown Fashion Week could use a bit of good news, this is it. The city would welcome him back with open arms.
