Hailing from New York, London and Paris, these emerging talents will show their debut collections this month.
CreditTanner Abel
NEW YORK
Graham Tyler
Growing up in upstate New York, Graham Tyler Baldwin was fascinated by art galleries. His parents organized family trips to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where the young art aficionado teared up the first time he saw a room full of pieces by Alexander Calder. Now 24, Baldwin will debut his first ready-to-wear collection during New York fashion week, inspired by his memories of these expeditions. “Spring 2019 is from the perspective of myself as a child, dreaming after an art museum visit,” Baldwin says. “The collection seeks to replicate that childhood experience of first encountering the color field paintings of Brice Marden and Ellsworth Kelly.” Baldwin originally studied sculpture at the Cleveland Institute of Art and landed an apprenticeship in 2013 with the milliner Marta Glazen. “I became interested in headwear as a form of intimate sculpture on the body,” he says. When he moved to New York City in 2015, he made custom headwear on his own for clients such as Lady Gaga, MAC and Barneys New York, and later for fashion brands such as Adam Selman and Polo Ralph Lauren. Making so many hats for so many labels, Baldwin wanted to finally create a brand under his vision. This coming collection, his first foray into ready-to-wear, will include a moiré evening vest based on a small drawing by Ellsworth Kelly, a silk organza trench coat and, of course, beautiful headwear to top it all off.
CreditPhoto by Lucky Llanes. Portrait by David Mollé.
NEW YORK
Christopher John Rogers
Although Christopher John Rogers will present his first official collection this season, the Brooklyn-based designer’s bold, color-forward pieces have already been worn by Cardi B and SZA in the past year. Rogers acknowledges that working with big-name stars has given his brand visibility, but he is in no rush to dress anyone else unless it is the right fit. “I’d like to see my clothes on people who naturally gravitate toward the pieces and the sincerity of the design,” Rogers says. “I want them to identify with the joy and thoughtfulness that can come with dressing up.” Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rogers moved to Savannah in 2012 to study fashion design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. After internships at Tanya Taylor and Chris Benz, he worked for the designer Rosie Assoulin before landing a job at Diane von Furstenberg, where he is currently working as the associate designer while also running his own namesake label. His new collection is full of color, graphic prints and natural fabrics including linen and dead-stock cotton. Rogers also explores how to use volume in ways that are conceptual yet flattering.
CreditPhoto by Steve O Smith. Portrait by Alessandro Merlo.
LONDON
Steve O Smith
By the age of 13, London-born Stephen O. Smith had his mind set on becoming a designer — even lying about his age so he could take summer courses at Central Saint Martins. At 19, Smith moved to the United States to study at the Rhode Island School of Design. “It was quite a culture shock for me,” he recalls. “I became very aware of how performative national identity was, which is something I started to incorporate into my work.” He explored the idea of Britishness in his work at RISD, and when he returned to England he began to look into the history of tailoring, on Savile Row in particular. Smith’s research influenced his focus on tailoring, which is now the main signature of his brand, Steve O Smith. “Up until now, I have done all of my own pattern cutting, and it’s through this hands-on approach that I’ve really grown to love and respect the craft,” he says. Another interest of his, angels, drives Smith’s upcoming collection; titled The Ascension, it’s his modern interpretation of angels ascending into heaven. His fascination with supernatural beings stems from time spent at the Louvre in Paris. “I think angels are the perfect muse, because they are whatever you want to them to be,” he explains. A jacket with ruched fabric inspired by the idea of wearing a cloud, and a shirt with more than a hundred buttons and button holes made to be worn in different variations, will be among his first pieces shown on the schedule at London Fashion Week.
CreditPhoto by Arianna Lago. Portrait by Tianjia Hu.
LONDON
Yuhan Wang
Yuhan Wang became interested in fashion when she was 6 years old and used anything she could get her hands on — including flowers and leaves — to transform the outfits of her dolls. A native of Weihai, China, she went on to study traditional Chinese paintings, especially Gai Qui from the Qing dynasty, before enrolling in Central Saint Martins, where she earned a master’s degree in women’s wear. “Traveling and living in various places has had a profound impact on my life and work,” Wang says. “Learning to live in a Western culture without losing touch with my Asian roots has been a big part of the process of living and working abroad.” For her debut collection, which will show as part of London’s Fashion East collective, she will explore some of the same themes that have always fascinated her, including Chinese royal women and ancient Chinese paintings of female subjects, but with a contemporary twist. Expect to see pieces like a scarf-glove hybrid that references the traditional shawls and gloves of royalty on the runway later this month.
CreditEduardo Horno Perez
PARIS
Atelier Mimii
Marta Rios is only 23 but has already lived in seven different countries. After studying at the Paris School of Fashion at Istituto Marangoni, she worked as a costume designer at the Conservatoire de Luxembourg. Her desire to explore self-expression through fantastical dressing is what pushed her to create her own label, Atelier Mimii. At the brand’s core is colorful quilting, as seen in her upcoming collection which consists of quilted dresses, embroidered pants and ruffled kimonos. This collection, inspired by her travels around the world and some of her favorite painters such as David Hockney, Henri Matisse and Otto Dix, will be her first to show at Paris Fashion Week. “Each piece embodies a specific color, volume, weight and texture that is directly correlated to a detail of a painting, or a light of an installation, or even a hat of a woman that sat next to me at a cafe,” Rios says of her myriad inspirations.
Angela Koh is a market editor for T Magazine.
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