story and photos by Charles Beckwith
I was hanging out with Seth Friedermann following a fashion presentation at the Russian Consulate when he said he was going to check out a new designer, Suzanne Rae, a few blocks down Fifth Avenue. What I saw when we arrived was a well-edited collection of really beautiful simple vestment-inspired womenswear looks from an apparently talented but still more or less unknown emerging designer. Also on display were almost sleek knitwear looks created in a collaboration with the normally a bit off the wall self-proclaimed “math nerd” designer Lindsay Degen, which were a strong 180 from what she had presented at her own show earlier the same day. This is a strong second collection for an emerging designer, but something Seth and I both agreed on was that it lacked a distinct signature. Who exactly is Suzanne Rae, and what will the thread be that defines her work season after season? If this label is to survive and expand, she must find that extra bit that leaves a mark in the mind but takes nothing away.
