Maria Koch has been on a health kick. She’s not alone—everywhere you look these days there’s a wellness tip awaiting. “I feel like I’m the last to the party, but I’m so into a healthy body right now,” she said, calling in from Berlin, “not as in skinny, but strong.” Koch put a protein tracker on her phone, and she said she feels and looks much better. Which explains the hoodie emblazoned with the word “Protein” across its chest. “I think it’s a cultural thing right now, the need to feel strong,” she said, “perhaps because of the environment and everything that is happening.”
Koch titled her collection “I would prefer not to.” Not to what, exactly? It’s a phrase that applies to anything from exercising to reading the news, and speaks to the privilege of being able to opt out. Koch also selected an epigraph, written by Herman Melville for his 1853 short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener”: “Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance.” In the story, a Wall Street lawyer hires a scrivener, Bartleby, who is initially hyper-productive but eventually refuses to make any copies, replying to any request with “I would prefer not to.” Bartleby’s is a sorrowful story about refusal and choice, yes, but also about the prison of productivity. Koch said that she was fascinated by the idea of going against the grain of fashion—constant novelty at breakneck speed.
Because she would prefer not to, Koch opted out of doing a show this season, explaining that 032c—editorial operation included—is going through some change and restructuring, so it made sense to step back. The collection models a similar kind of restraint; a lineup of 032 basics, it includes cool leather separates, workwear, and some proper tailoring, a category that’s looking better and more identifiable each season here.