The Tamesis
The pieces I’m most excited about this season are those based on professional patternmaking. The art of confusing how best to make fabrics work with or around the body, rather than relying on embellishments or logos, is fundamental. It also requires a deep understanding of materials and their responsiveness. Sharon Wauchob is one such cloth whisperer who wields her scissors with precision. Her mastery of bias tailoring is flawless, complemented by the art of loose tailoring.
The diagonal line—along with fall’s spiral cuts—is a metaphor for the designer’s new, unique path in fashion. It’s been nearly a decade since Wauchob moved from Paris to London, ditched the runway and went into reset mode. The designers draw on past experience and work closely with professional studios, most of which are local, to co-develop not only clothes but a completely new approach to fashion. Rather than getting caught up in the chaos and change of constant reinvention, Wauchob focused on developing her heroes or signature pieces while slowly introducing new ones. Time is this designer’s ally. She reports that best-selling items often don’t sell immediately. “In a different environment, these pieces would not have been able to sustain their life,” the designer said, but now she can watch them “reach their full potential.” To be clear, Wauchob’s slow understanding of fashion isn’t akin to listening to a song on repeat. When redesigning a piece, she doesn’t just change the color or fabric; Instead, she always comes back to the why, the reason a piece of clothing exists.
One of Wauchob’s goals was to achieve functionality “in an almost artistically creative way.” A wind-light travel coat in ultrafine wool with a silk chiffon lining that hangs loosely over the arms so that if you roll up the outer sleeves, you reveal the ghostly inner sleeves. The piece fulfills “the idea of an outward expression of intimacy,” the designer wrote in his notes.
Wauchob also hopes to produce not only garments that can be worn in different ways (for example, a marabou tunic (with hand-placed feathers) can also be worn as a skirt) but also hybrid accessories (accessories?). “I think if you really understand the product and know how it’s constructed or know its origins, there’s a lot you can do with it,” she said. A few seasons ago, she launched an oversized scrunchie that could be worn as a hem or in other ways. For fall, wear it with a headscarf and a scarf paired with a button-down shirt and sweater. A sequined tie doubles as a necklace. The opening look, also centered around the neck, was a satin-wool-back coat paired with an all-in-one reversible long, flowing scarf. A pair of carrot-leg trousers were pleated, eliminating the need for side seams, and another jet black top was hand-encrusted with crystals to resemble a Coromandel screen, a portable folding device used to delineate open areas. Wauchob is not one to build walls; instead, she fashions soft, breathable scrim-like garments in which the boundaries between masculine and feminine, boudoir and boulevard, disappear.
