Graham Tyler is a new designer with a millinery background steeped in the whimsical and avant garde. For his debut ready-to-wear collection, he looked to translate the more dramatic elements of his headpieces into clothing balanced by a nostalgic thread.
He drew inspiration from childhood memories of museum visits, of viewing the works of Brice Marden, Ellsworth Kelly and Alexander Calder for the first time. The goal was to elicit a similar reaction from audience members when they viewed his clothes. “I’m hoping that people will feel a little lightened,” he said after the show. “I listen to very heavy things all the time, like heavy political podcasts, so this is my attempt to try to alleviate that a little bit.”
The artistic touchstones ranged from paintings Tyler drew himself that were printed onto sleek tailoring, to Pop Art dots blown up into jackets that were a little too on the nose. The paintings included some with sentimental value as well, featuring Post-it notes to himself and a love letter to a grandmother who recently passed away. Even the green plaid of a standout tailored vest and skirt was hand-painted then printed.
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Tailoring proved to be a strong takeaway, and pieces worked best with sleek design details, like folding the lapels of a corset-like vest or rounding the sleeves of the opening coat.
Hats were expectedly great and used to soften the seriousness of the tailoring. Though he didn’t want to put out a total collection of hats, Tyler should consider offering more next time for people to see the connection between the brand’s beginnings and his ready to wear. In all, it was a solid debut with some very wearable office updates.