design: Church + State. photo: Pete Springer
Evolve. After having moved through various styles of painting, Barnett Newman found his mature style with the painting of “Onement” when he was 43. From then on, every Newman painting is unmistakably Newman, most with his trademark “zip.”
Barnett Newman. Onement I. 1948. Museum of Modern Art
We watched another sure step last night in the evolution of Church + State, the line by Rachel Turk and Nathaniel Crissman. Going in, we carried with us in our heads the pictures of the spring looks, little swing jumpers and dresses in ivory, and the notion that the designers had mentioned that one of their notes for the fall collection was “all grown up.” What we saw were looks that incorporated past themes, but pushed into exciting new territory, unmistakably Church + State.
design: Church + State. photo: Pete Springer
In a crowded former storefront on SE Powell, we saw eight looks primarily in woven wools. The shape was the story of the night, ranging from a trim fit herringbone wool dress to a faux-paperbag waist, to a bubble hem on a little cap-sleeve dress to skirts with draped sides—a side cowl—that gave skirts, dresses, and one sweet pair of shorts dramatic volume at the hips (except when the cowls fell from an empire waist, putting the volume higher).
design: Church + State. photo: Pete Springer
In this head-spinning week of fashion (not to mention art) it was refreshing to see that the interest was all in the way the garments were built with any details being integrated and subtle. So details of construction like gathered sections falling from curved piping on the front of a trim little ¾ sleeve jacket and the rear of a high-waisted skirt were magically important, as were the ubiquitous and well-loved Church + State signature fabric-covered buttons.
design: Church + State. photo: Pete Springer
The roots of these looks were visible in the audience last night, laying bare parts of the logical development of the line. Rachel Turk herself wore a previous season Church + State heathered jersey knit dress that also had a side-cowl skirt, but where the longer jersey cowl draped, the side-cowl on the current skirts was now substantive and full in woven wools. And The Collections producer, Clara Seasholtz wore a band-collared top with exposed seams from Anther Pistil, a previous Crissman/Turk project. In the current collection, the duo had incorporated the menswear wool of the older top, its trim fit and collar, while moving beyond its un-done glory.
design: Church + State. photo: Pete Springer
By keeping the collection small and focused, Crissman and Turk were able to make a clear, concise statement making it all the more powerful. Rather than being a “Hey, I’m over here” full-arm wave, it’s a subtle gesture that says, “Come here I want to tell you something important.”
updated Saturday September 09 2006 17:07
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