NEW YORK — When Tess Giberson joined Tse in September, she didn’t have much time to settle into her new gig.
Instead, she immediately found herself in the throes of having to create the pre-fall and fall collections at the same time. But the designer, who comes across as quiet and collected, was ready for the challenge.
Going through the first pre-fall samples at the label’s Meatpacking District headquarters last week at an exclusive preview, Giberson appeared content with her first outing.
“It feels great, having seen the process from the beginning,” she said of her first collection for the house best known for cashmere knitwear.
At Tse, Giberson has a mandate to put her stamp on the knitwear while stepping up the wovens part of the collection — and making sure there is a cohesiveness in the looks.
Giberson, who succeeded Annette Ishida, is following a talented group of designers who have walked through Tse’s often-revolving doors, including Narciso Rodriguez, Victor Alfaro, Hussein Chalayan and Richard Chai. Giberson had been designing her own collection since 2002, and before that was a designer at Calvin Klein. She decided to put her namesake collection on hold to be able to still have quality time with her nine-month-old son, Ezra.
Giberson conceded that she hadn’t worked in knits as much for her own collection, though she used to design men’s sweaters at Calvin Klein.
“The aesthetic at Tse isn’t too far from my own,” she said. “I love materials. I love working with textures. This has been an amazing brand for this kind of work. The access to resources has been incredible. A lot of times, people do simple ribs and treat knits like jersey, but with Tse, we’re lucky to be able to push what we can do with different stitches.”
To that end, the pre-fall collection is inspired by the concept of metamorphosis, with unusual stitches, some of which seem to morph from one into another seamlessly, sometimes even moving into wovens. For instance, a knitted cashmere dress has an abstract cableknit that diverges like a subway map, then reunites. In other pieces, she mixes vertical knitting techniques with horizontal ones to enhance the sense of texture. She also uses a needle-punch technique for a floral design on a skirt that features a satin-covered waistband.
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“When I design a collection, I need an idea to build everything around,” Giberson said of her guiding theme. “I brainstorm and write ideas down. I think out things before I start sketching.”
The collection also includes single-faced cashmere skirts with stitching on the waistband and double-faced cashmere trenchcoats and herringbone trousers.
“We have been known as a cashmere and knitwear specialty resource,” said Augustine Tse, founder, president and chief executive officer. “I always want the designer to bring together the knits and wovens in a more cohesive way. I have been watching Tess and what she has been doing. She’s very creative and talented. She will be able to bridge the gap between the knits and the wovens.”
That said, knits still dominate the business and account for about 70 percent of the collection. This pre-fall collection, which is to be shipped in May, features about 90 knit styles and up to 40 woven pieces.
The company plans to forgo a traditional runway show in favor of an intimate showing of the fall collection in its showroom in February.
The company has 10 freestanding boutiques and the line is sold to more than 350 stores worldwide. There are plans to add two freestanding boutiques in Japan next year. Tse has 120 shop-in-shops in U.S. department and specialty stores, including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Nordstrom.