Nylon - November 2008 - (Page 80) the wild BE A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY THIS SEASON IN LUMBERJACK PLAIDS, SHEARLING VESTS, AND RUSTIC ACCESSORIES. BY SARAH MASLIN NIR. PHOTOGRAPHED BY DOMINIQUE PALOMBO On a warm evening last summer, a gaggle of well-dressed girls clustered in the middle of Barney’s CO-OP in New York City to celebrate the debut of a new jewelry collection. Sipping champagne and idly nibbling canapés proffered by bow tie– sporting waiters, the crowd was made up of your typical fashion affair attendees—with one striking difference: In the midst of the well-heeled group, a bearded and tattooed man clad in a leather apron sat hammering away on an anvil. The blacksmith was none other than jewelry designer Philip Crangi, who was crafting custom bracelets made from railroad ties for his Giles & Brother line. More than just a stunt, Crangi’s hammer was ringing out the future of fashion this fall: a season of throwbacks to the pastoral ways of frontier-dwelling pioneers. Everyone’s got cabin fever this autumn, with elements of it cropping up in everything from moccasin-inspired, fringed stiletto boots at Jimmy Choo to runways crammed with oversized plaid jackets. “People are taking a look from the wilderness into the city streets,” says Aja Pecknold, a Seattle-based fashion writer. “It’s conveying a connection with nature even if you’re in the city. Wearing the look in an urban environment is kind of an escapist thing.” Even the denizens of the attire’s birthplace, the wooded and chilly forests of the Pacific Northwest, are reclaiming the image of their forefathers. They’re eschewing high-tech, chillproof fabrics in favor of keeping warm the way their granddads 80 mania
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.