From the Chiasmus archive: February 4th, 2020. "ESCADA FALL 2020 READY-TO-WEAR - NEW YORK FASHION WEEK"

 

Escada is an interesting company in so many ways, founded in 1975 by German ex-model and designer Margaretha Ley, it went onto  to become the quintessential 1980s German luxury brand, with the 80's super model Claudia Schiffer as the brand's muse for their 87' advertising campaign.  So, in its heyday it very much portrayed the billowing mid length dresses, bold colors, shoulder pads that was all 1980s glamor.  However, throughout the late 1970s and into the decade that followed, like most clothing brands of that time; Escada decided to become a public company in 1986, instilling a pressure to respond to major share holders wishes.  Which in turn can force management to churn through creative directors at a rapid rate if they don't preform and profit margins aren't met.  Now owned by a Beverly Hills, Californian private equity firm Regent L.P who has also acquired the industrial clothing giant Caterpillar Inc.  

After Niall Sloan stepped down as creative director in the shadow of his Fall 2019 Ready-to-Wear Collection, the English designer Emma Cook has risen to the occasion soon after Sloan's departure to reinvigorate the Escada brand name.   A far cry from her delicate and serene collections that Cook has portrayed over the years from her own signature label she created in 2000.  A graduate from London's Central Saint Martins, she was in the same graduating class as Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney.  Emma Cook is not shy of any experience, having designed her own clothing range for nearly twenty years, she now holds the rein of Escada's expectations with her first Fall 2020 collection.  

Paradoxically Cook has stated that she does not want this to emulate Escada's mid to late 80's cues.  However she has set the latest collection close to late 1970s hedonism ala Studio 54 stylizations, which has been a trend that surfaces form time to time throughout the runways and look books of the various fashion weeks, which could entail a desire to draw from, what appeared to be, a more devil-may-care era.  Although this could be a romanticism on the nostalgia of bygone sentiment, that holds more of a darker passage than not, yet it is also very enticing. 

A smart and focused ensemble from Cook who has set forth some very characteristic styles of 1970s sexiness.  Free and easy nightclub and/or cocktail dress styles, its silhouettes reflect seductive and alluring portrayals  within its cultural appeal.  Dark green pleated dresses, with funky pattern work, there are some of Escanda's power suit plays, but they are intermixed with that layed back 70's sex appeal.

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(A.Glass 2020)