These verging-on-kitsch pieces were balanced with Lee's utilitarian basics.
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These verging-on-kitsch pieces were balanced with Lee's utilitarian basics.
Sexy cowgirl? It's an apt, if slightly misleading, description for Wayne Lee's Spring offering. These were not skimpy clothes for square dancing, but instead sophisticated separates with just enough Southwestern influence to make them interesting.
Bolo ties, designed in collaboration with Lee's sculptor boyfriend, Eric Furman, were worn with deep, chest-exposing V-neck tunics and something the designer is calling a "blazer cape"—which has the collar of a blazer and the silhouette of, yes, a cape. Leather, made to look like bleached denim, was used for a more traditional blazer—"I couldn't find anything like that, so I went ahead and designed it myself," explained Lee. Black sweatshirts were screen-printed with dragon-crystal-bird-of-paradise motifs. (The only thing missing? The requisite dream catcher.)
These verging-on-kitsch pieces were balanced with Lee's utilitarian basics. This season, she experimented with oversize cargo pockets that elegantly dipped below the seams on jackets, shirts, and shorts. The skort, which Lee introduced into her repertoire back in 2009 but has gained major traction for Spring 2014, was well represented in both leather and crepe versions. "Now that everybody is on a Citi Bike, it feels like the skort is finally having its moment," she said. Indeed it does.