*FRANK TELL
Frank Kobitz, the designer behind Frank Tell, doesn’t fall back on his fashion credentials—which include apprenticeships at ThreeAsFour and Sue Stemp—when drawing crowds to see his clothes. Not only did he get the Misshapes to D.J. his debut presentation at Pure Project in September, and does he share an aesthetic inspiration with Marc Jacobs (Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad), but this season, Kobitz enlisted Julia Reston Roitfeld (that’s the one) to design the invitations to his show. But while French Vogue progeny can be counted on to cull the glitterati to the Tribeca Grand, Frank Tell’s billowy frocks with sheer layers and fluid chiffon will inspire a new generation of ingénues.
*LYELL
Judging by the 1920s Victorian smocks that drape the racks at Emma Fletcher’s Nolita boutique, Lyell, the Australian designer’s runway debut will be dark, moody, and utterly magical. Not one to wait around for the nod from her fashion peers, Fletcher opened stores in New York and Paris in 2003, followed up with a footwear collection of monochromatic Mary Janes, and now Lyell, the label, is stock-listed around the world. But it was Fletcher’s fall collection, made up of lace trimmed camisoles, crocheted dresses, raw indigo denim, and velvet jackets and pencil skirts, that enchanted her a show this season.
*SHIPLEY & HALMOS
After five years at the helm of California label Trovata, Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos jumped ship and headed East. The two admitted fans of skinny jeans, taxi driver profanity, and Deadwood seem better suited for the city anyhow, as is the eponymous line, Shipley & Halmos, they came here to launch. While clean cuts in both the men’s and women’s collections echo the designers’ preppy past, gone are the corduroy chinos and striped toggle sweaters. Instead, trenchcoat dresses with neckties, high-waisted shorts, and button-downs with silk bow appliqués are ushering the boys from Newport Beach into New York without a hitch.
*JONATHAN SAUNDERS
Central St. Martins graduate Jonathan Saunders has won the British Fashion Council’s Fashion Enterprise award, showed at London Fashion Weeks, garnered celebrity fans like Madonna and Thandie Newton, and was dubbed “London’s hottest It Boy” by the arbiter of style herself, Anna Wintour…to name a few accolades. The Scottish designer has also collaborated with Boots on a lipstick line, Gola on high-top trainers and ballerina flats, Topshop on a capsule collection, and is whispered to be Target’s next Go International designer. Why then, are we ‘introducing’ him? Because Saunders—his linear silhouettes, trompe l'oeil prints, and hybrid palette of fluoros and dusty shades in tow—is finally coming to America.
