admin Sisi Li is loosening up. The Nells Nelson designer is a tailoring specialist, but this season she was after an attitude that can only be described as breezy. It could be because she makes the collection in Italy and when she was working on it over the last few months the temperatures topped 100 degrees there. Let’s just say that on a September morning with uncomfortably high humidity, her brushed cotton and linen suits, slightly baggier than the silhouettes she usually prefers, looked mighty appealing.
Stretching her vocabulary, Li experimented with looser, easier shapes here. Long pleated skirts in various fabric combinations signaled her shift in mood. An organza and silk version worn with a draped lapel cotton shirt is an outfit that could chicly stand up to the late summer heatwave New York is currently experiencing. A more casual but similarly effortless look combined light blue cotton pants with utilitarian darts at the knees and a shirt with Cuban guayabera roots. It too looked high dewpoint-proof. Other pieces made from a silk cotton tight-weave jacquard are water resistant—you never know what the weather will throw at you these days. Elsewhere, a shirt jacket made from red cashmere was a standout for more reason than one. Bright color is a new experiment for Li who otherwise uses neutrals like stone and “lilac mist,” and that downy cashmere definitely makes a person long for fall.
