Subtle Changes at Cushnie et Ochs, Rodebjer & Suno

There’s something comforting about entering a show knowing what to expect. It’s familiar in the way that a band or an author can be familiar — the word isn’t formulaic, it’s honest and personal.

But over-familiarity can cause fatigue. It’s here a designer likely feels the challenge of remaining true to his or her inherent taste while adding a bit of “what the people want” — if what the people want is, in fact, change.

Subtle changes, and I mean subtle, were at play at Cushnie et Ochs, though mark my word: the Cushnie customer never once complained. Neither did the buyers, especially one independent store owner in particular who told me that his girl comes in for Cushnie, leaves with Cushnie, and comes back for — you know.

The show opened with model Crystal Renn. The model behind her wore a curve-hugging dresses with cut outs and mesh that said this is us. What followed was a tall collared coat in dusty rose and a high waisted pair of swinging trousers, then from there a pattern was established: the familiar would be broken up by alternative, pant-inclusive looks. Color added to the change in tempo: dark pumpkin, green velvet.

Designers Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs create clothes that beg to be worn by the type of body that inspires the doubled-handed motion of a Coke bottle. It’s unlikely they’ll stray from this guide — they’re smart women and know not to fix what isn’t broken. They also know where quiet changes are in order.

Rodebjer is another label with an obvious look, only it wasn’t totally there in her opening number for Fall: a faux fur jacket over black fabric trellis exposing a leather-esque skirt and a lot of skin. But that’s ok! Aren’t we always complaining to our long-term significant others that they don’t surprise us anymore?

Back in July, designer Carin Rodebjer told us that she designed for women of every age, a sentiment that held true for her older clientele in yesterday’s draping, flowing, flattering shapes that hung from the body with a satisfying weight. New was the more obvious stance on youth: Carin’s models were moon children, branded as such by navy crescents between their eyebrows. They wore sneakers — awesome ones — laced up around the ankles, and their outfits, perhaps even more than the shoes, were made to be walked in. Or played in. Rodebjer’s fans are loyal. Her clothes take care of their wearers, and it’s in that mindset they’ll be open to whatever her “next” may be.

As for Suno, design duo Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis have fostered such a strong community of friends that their show feels familiar based solely on that. It’s a consistently late call time: 8 p.m. on a Friday, yet everyone who’s there is glad to be.

This season, their subtle change was in a lean towards dark: the colors, the shapes, the theme. Per Style.com, Beatty and Osterweis were inspired by Bertha Mason, Jane Eyre’s “madwoman in the attic.” (In addition to Wide Sargasso Sea.) 

The collection was heavy in the way you want winter clothes to be, perhaps more over-all wearable than past collections, and definitely more…adult?

It was elegant and moody. One detail that stood out was the cluster of tight floral appliqués on a fine mesh tulle dress — a hint of the more playful Suno, and maybe a knowing hint of spring.

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