Freeing The Nipple For New York Fashion Week: Reviews of Eckhaus Latta and Lou Dallas

You know a designer has made it big when the fashion week crowd treks to Bushwick to see their show--and arrives smiling. Eckhaus Latta has been a brand to watch for several years now, their inventive collections praised by Vogue and other Planet Fashion VIPs.

But this season, designers Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta outperformed all of their previous outings with the brand’s most polished and cohesive collection yet.

The boundary-breaking that generated a lot of early buzz about Eckhaus Latta was on full display: non-model models of varying ages and sizes; male and female models in nearly identical looks.

But Eckhaus and Latta seemed to be championing women in particular this season. One model exposed her heavily pregnant belly through an unbuttoned cardigan dress. Others freed their nipples in sheer tops.

What set this collection apart most were its successful experiments with tailoring, from crisp suiting on men and women to structured silhouettes.

LOU DALLAS

With New York Fashion Week favorites like Thom Browne and Altuzarra presenting their Spring 2018 collections in Paris, there’s never been a better time for up-and-comers like Lou Dallas to make a name for themselves.

Raffaella Hanley launched the label in 2013 after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design. But this season marked the first time that Lou Dallas landed a coveted spot on the CFDA’s official calendar.

While the label clearly draws from Baroque-era style and couturiers like Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, and Christian Lacroix, there’s something distinctly American about Lou Dallas.

The designs reflect the kind of attention to detail and character associated with Wes Anderson films. For all the tulle ruffles and pastels and Marie Antoinette-esque patterns on display this season, the models also looked straight out of the Eloise children’s book series.