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A few years ago, at the 2021 Met Gala, Lord appeared on the red carpet in one of the strangest and most miraculous ensembles in Met Gala history. It was a white silk dress and open-front jacket, decorated with delicate metal work and embellished with cabochons, and she had little white spikes on her feet and a crown, by New York jeweler Jean Prounis, on her head. It was sensual, exotic, luxurious, and not what you’d expect from Emily Adams Bode Aujla, a woman who made her name with expensive men’s jackets made from old quilts. Not only was Lorde dressed, but she also looked decked out. Somehow, too, there was a sense that even though these clothes were designed for one of the most famous events in the world of entertainment and fashion, they really belonged to Lorde. that they had a certain history and personal meaning to them; That she has some kind of deep and wonderful connection with the fabric.
Bode Olja has had a huge impact on men’s fashion since her debut, in 1998. In 2016, her lines of jackets and trousers cut simple silhouettes from old quilts and reproductions of vintage textiles. But that Met Gala moment hinted that she has a lot to say about womenswear.
Lorde at the Met Gala in 2021.
A year and a half later, Bode Ojla is making her first full statement about what world womenswear can be. Showing today in Paris on the men’s calendar, he presents his first full Bode womenswear collection, featuring stunning and stunning evening gowns, formal coats, suits and innovative knitwear. Here and there she has made a few pieces for women, especially for private clients, and of course, women already buy her menswear. But this scene marks the beginning of a fully realized female universe to complement her male counterparts.
Bode Aujla explained in an interview last week that part of the reason is that her vision of womenswear is different from what she does with menswear. A lot of people might assume they know what her womenswear looks like, especially since so many women wear men’s pieces, but she says, “I wanted to show that the womenswear I do is not what most people think it is. Unless they were close to me or followed me through the design process, they would be womenswear.
Many of her menswear collections are based on the biographies of her family or loved ones, like the pre-fall 2022 collection inspired by her own recent wedding celebrations, or the fall 2020 collection drawing on her husband’s business partner’s past. Shaker Village. This collection was inspired by Bode Aujla’s post-college mother in the 1970s who wore a 1920s nightgown to eat alone at a large dinner table. ” The designer explains about her mother’s employer, and the show is about how “my mother, looking at this person, imagines who she is and what’s fun about it.”
Shows in the collection drew from that decadent narrative, particularly the 1920s gowns and dresses, like a bronze bodice and skirt with yellow and teal beading, or a gold-seed beaded A-line with gold-seed beading as a multi-beaded recreation. Dress with round capelet neck. (Bode had the bead work done in India.) The designer told me she hasn’t requested any Oscar dresses yet, but one can only imagine that these will make for a spectacular awards season. There are also chunky beaded and hand-embroidered sweaters designed to be worn with jeweled pants or over a yellow window shawl neck dress or a ribbon bralette and a pair of silk taped sweaters. Unlike her men, and like her collection for Lorde, the clothes are cerebral, grotesquely sensual. A model wears a see-through dress with a novelty sweater. That sweater and others were recreations of scraps from her mother’s laundry room, one with a pointed yoke made by a historic Norwegian knitter.
Bode’s clothes are so beautiful that the usual questions of fashion, such as whether women want to dress more, or whether they need an opera coat to convince themselves, suddenly feel irrelevant. You see something like a billiard-board green evening coat tied only at the neck, or a heavy burgundy velvet coat skirt, and suddenly you begin to imagine what a wonderful life you could be living in that piece. Course You need an opera coat! There are fashion designers who respond to our way of life, they want to make clothes that fit the way of modern life; And there are fashion designers like Grace Wells Bonner, or The Rous Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, or Bode Ojla who suggest a softer or more elegant lifestyle.
When I saw Bode’s clothes in a FaceTime conversation last week, I was amazed at how audible they all were. And not in the hot-off-the-runway-grail way we’re so used to dressing women; Like the painful payoff I get from finding the perfect 1970s Saint Laurent blazer, or 1990s Yogi Yamamoto cap, or Schiaparelli hat. You know, the feeling of a great vintage hunt where you can enjoy who might have worn these strange and unique clothes and how you can celebrate them by giving them new life. Bode Ojla’s clothes are new or duplicated, but it makes me think of what Yves Saint Laurent did at a 1970s premiere, creating clothes from history, 19th century Russia or 1940s Paris, with a glamorous, passionate look. Saint Laurent was a revisionist, grasping at something real, but allowing his ideals to fade. Bode Aujla is more interested in personal history, which makes her work relevant today. Who needs distant legends when you have your own family history to preserve and explore?
Bode Aujla once told me that she wanted to start Bode to change the culture of men’s clothing. She certainly did that, her wonderfully trendless pieces built a seductive and singular universe of beauty and taste. The New York store, located on Hester Street and designed by her husband’s firm, Green River Projects, is always buzzing with customers (in fact, I saw two women buying their own men’s pants last weekend) as soon as they opened the coffee shop next door. That space serves as a tailor’s shop where customers are encouraged to get tailored. Each garment also has a label that explains the inspiration and story behind the garment. All in all, her clothes seem to carry the precious weight of history by embedding them in their own stories, as if the customers were custodians of clothes with history. Only with these extremely complex stories (and incredibly strange) and women’s clothes are richer.
Bode’s growth has been particularly explosive over the past two years. At the time of her women’s launch, she seemed well placed to create the new design for American luxury.
Bode Fall 2023
Rachel Tashjian is the fashion news director Harper’s BazaarWorking across print and digital platforms. She was before GQHe worked as the first fashion critic and deputy editor. Garage and as a writer in Useless fair. She has written for publications including Book platform And ArtforumAnd the invitation-only newsletter is a generator of great tips.
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