view the full collection in our Photo Gallery
story by Seth Friedermann
photos by Adrianna Favero
web editor Rachel Reneé
“How do you stay true to yourself and grow? That’s what I was trying to do with this collection.” With her Fall 2012 collection, New York-based designer Kaelen Haworth arrived at a traditional conundrum that has faced every designer who has ever met with success. A fashion designer creates a first collection and much to their relief they receive some retail success and positive press, and perhaps for the second collection they nervously try to do something similar but better, and with their third they begin to play around with a few new ideas but are sure to include pieces that will please buyers and clients. But the artistic mind is a restless mind, and with a designer’s fourth offering, they often feel a need to push, to invent, to do new. How do you do that and not erase that which has been responsible for the success you have enjoyed up to this point?
The clothes that graced the presentation venue at Lincoln Center on Thursday were proof positive that young Mrs. Haworth had met and defeated this challenge. There are a lot of details and workmanship that go into a Kaelen design, but it’s always done in such a way that they don’t call attention to themselves. Clever long darts form fabric in ways that are just a bit different than how most do it. An angled split on a dress or on a cuff creates that uniqueness that you feel before you see.
The collection was rich with beautiful prints that were hand done by her stylist. And a cohesive thread of masculine tailoring ran throughout all of the designs which increased the positive impression that the collection left in your mind.
This was a season of maturation, well thought out and well executed. Some of my personal highlights included a can’t stop staring at it gold blouse with attached and “feminized” bow tie and two beautiful black lace pieces that were risque and refined at the same time. If I were a betting man I’d lay odds that their won’t be any challenge that Kaelen Haworth won’t pass on her way to being known as one of the best new talents working in New York City today.
