Gabriela Hearst picked up the CFDA’s Womenswear Designer of the Year Award on Monday. “It is a huge encouragement for the team and I,” she said on Instagram, then followed that up with a shout-out to her seamstress and “master of the ‘mucha trabajo’” Shirley Zheng. Hearst is an engaging mix of elegance and earthy bonhomie, which comes across in her ready-to-wear with its mix of fine tailoring and high-touch crafts.
Her menswear has less of the handcrafted element, but you could say this new collection was designed with the earth in mind. It’s her first made entirely from deadstock material, a milestone that’s just as significant as that CFDA win. Is a line’s sustainability factor a lure for male shoppers? Time will tell, but one thing Hearst knows for sure is that guys are repeat customers. Presumably when they slip into one of her cashmere T-shirts, there’s no going back to Hanes.
“It was very interesting to create a collection where you have such limitations and still make something cohesive,” she said on a Zoom call. “I’m very proud of what we did.” Her look book model is Facundo Sola, the Argentinian polo player. Apparently, he was a reluctant model, at least at first, but he looks game enough here. It must’ve been all that repurposed cashmere.
