story by Sia-Alika Battle
photos by Adrianna Favero
A Détacher designer Mona Kowalska has a reputation for pushing to the edges of fashion. Before coming to the United States and starting her own line, Kowalska designed for many small Italian labels, followed by a brief stint at Sonia Rykiel. Her work could be considered avant garde by commercial standards. The spring 2013 collection for A Détacher is both architecturally de-constructed and well-engineered.
The collection started minimalistic, with deceptively simple shift dresses cinched at the waist with a knot that would reappear on tailored print blouses, skirts, and every piece in the collection in different iterations. This is a thinking woman’s collection; pieces I could see at a MOMA Opening Reception. Ms. Kowalska also showed her playful side in a woodland animal print seen on a variety pieces in white on blue and black on white. With such bare intelligence in design, is not difficult to see why so many other fashion designers are fanatics for these collections.
