September 17, 2015 |
Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne already have one label to their names. Although, scratch that, it isn’t their names – called Public School and focused around monochrome streetwise basics with a high fashion twist, its New York incarnate. Which explains both how and why they were given the reins of DKNY, the younger, urbane sister brand of the recently shuttered Donna Karan label. Looking to the line’s roots in pared back 1990s sportswear, Chow and Osborne focused on a minimal colour palette of black, white and shots of electric blue, pepped with a sleek pinstripe, referencing DKNY’s roots as a working woman’s wardrobe staple. Snippets of old Karan ads were scrambled together on the insistent soundtrack, a few of the models marching out in tailored coats and shirt-dresses printed with revived graphics from the instantly recognisable Advertising campaigns of Karan’s nineties archives. Wit so many other designers delving into those years for inspiration, Chow and Osborne are streets ahead. Get ready for a new DKNY renaissance.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
