Lafayette 148 Resort 2024 Collection | Jiaxing PP Woven Fabric Group

RESORT 2024

By Laia Garcia-Furtado

After three seasons exploring the architectural history of the various Lafayette 148 buildings and landmarks, Emily Smith shifted gears to the great outdoors. "It's resort, but we do more of a winter capsule," she said at an appointment at the brand's headquarters in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. "We wanted to focus on the idea of escapism, particularly to upstate New York, the Hudson Valley—obviously New York is part of our DNA."

The collection was decidedly cozy with a heightened sense of luxury. There were wrap coats and suiting separates in supremely decadent camel hair. A knit gingham bouclé in shades of tan and white was used for a midi length column skirt, paired with a no-nonsense white cotton button-down and a black sweater, and in a handsome car coat. They were both grown-up, like luxurious versions of a favorite blanket. An incredibly textured fair isle sweater in shades of tan, white, and black was made from a wool cashmere blend, and had additional embroidered embellishments that added an edge to the classic style. "The whole thing keeps it a little urban, keeps it a little New York City." Smith added laughing, "You know there's nothing more cringey than when people go upstate and they put their ‘country look’ on."

The collection's whole palette, in fact, was pared back to shades of brown, beige, black, and white, plus hints of cornflower blue, and many of these shades were achieved through experiments with natural dyes. "We worked with red cabbage—like a classic red cabbage that you get at the grocery store—to get this kind of periwinkle blue," she said, pointing to a thin leather shirt. "If you use it to dye paper, you get that shade. We worked with avocado pits and acorns to get some of the beige and brown tones that you see. It's a cool science experiment we did."

A series of evening pieces in black tonal jacquard featured a silver floral embroidery that was actually woven into the fabric. A simple slip dress was styled with a cashmere sweater around the neck and little leather slippers for an insouciant cool; on an oversized jacket and wide leg trousers the look was simultaneously black tie and pajamas.

At Lafayette 148 the evening vibe is to throw it on and go, and yet still "look expensive." But despite conversations about subtle luxury and minimalism, there were showstoppers here, like the metallic silver leather pieces whose weight and texture were hard to believe. "We spent a lot of time looking for the perfect metallic leather that just had enough crinkle—it was not so easy," Smith related. The shock of silver was inspired by the idea of "a Richard Serra or an Anish Kapoor" sculpture, "something that's just sort of weirdly placed against nature and is man-made," Smith said, invoking the works of art at Dia Beacon and Storm King, both of which are upstate destinations for city types.

Resort 2024