The June/December calendar is new territory for Jeffrey Dodd, but so far it’s been beneficial in allowing him to dive deeper into the development process and, simply, give him more time to work. He started thinking about his spring collection in January when visiting Japanese artist Jun Kaneko’s art museum in Omaha, Neb., where the designer showed archival editorial pieces in an exhibit titled “The Human Condition.” He was so taken by Kaneko’s sculpture studio while there that he built a collection around the artist’s large-scale works, and photographed his look book there last week.
He referenced Kaneko’s work in the subtlest ways, drawing textural inspiration from unglazed sculptures, and a saturated color story from the artist’s other pieces. A lovely micro-pleated dress in a bright orange, for instance, drew from textural vertical paintings. Various linear lines were either broken on a leather dress or seen as stripes on separates. Dresses with shibori prints were light, elongated and moved beautifully. Other abstract connections included puka shell embroidery on a denim dress and an 11-pound sweatshirt (yes, Dodd weighed it) that referenced unsmoothed clay chips used for sculptures. He incorporated those puka shells onto weighted sleeves that contrasted the fluidity of a long black gown in a new take on evening.
That was the other big story: expanding evening and experimenting with tailoring techniques. Standouts included a long sleek sleeveless jacket dress styled over wrap pants with an intentional imperfect drape, and an asymmetrical cut blazer both slimming and empowering.