admin At a recent appointment at Nellie Partow’s flower district studio, the designer went straight to the point. “For me, the whole collection really boils down to one word: levity.” A shiny silver skirt and matching button down shirt that appeared almost liquid hung on a rack nearby and quickly proved her point. They were both as light as the tinsel on a Christmas tree, except much more luxurious and made from silk in France at a hundred-year-old mill. Next to them hung a handsome sweater hand-embroidered with glass beads that resembled water droplets. “The transition of the season started with these whites and creams, and that felt like a fresh start,” said Partow. “I really wanted to explore that, keep it light and lighthearted and have some fun with it.”
She was certainly having fun when she was coming up with the color palette of her signature pleated knit pieces. Raspberry and a whipped egg yolk yellow mixed together in a combination that was almost off and was thus beautiful in its slight dissonance. “The amount of time that I stood there just staring when I was working out the holes…” she trailed off. “I thought this was either going to be really incredible or not at all.”
Elsewhere, she kept things fun with a cropped shirt and matching trousers made from a cotton jacquard with a subtle print that’s traditionally used for accent details; and a water-resistant trenchcoat and matching skirt that were slightly translucent, adding a dash of the unexpected to more traditionally workhorse pieces. “I’m sure every designer goes through it, but I felt like we needed to have an element of playfulness,” she explained. “We were all just talking about how the world is in such a crazy space right now, and it’s just nice to be able to bring some to your day-to-day life, even if it’s just your wardrobe.”
