A decade ago, Brandon Maxwell was the new kid on the block, a stylist-turned-designer with his client Lady Gaga cheering him along from the front row. Most of the time, fashion can’t resist an anniversary, but Maxwell was clear about not focusing on his past at his Sotheby’s show location tonight. “There’s nothing really 10-year-anniversary about it other than the date,” he said. “I’m very much interested in looking forward.”
So, what does Maxwell see in his future? From the looks of this collection, he’s not just optimistic, he’s giddy. Start with the neoprene-backed plaid double-breasted blazer he opened with, and the slender bandeau boasting an emphatically big buckle he slipped underneath. Consider the fringe that draped from silk knit dresses and the cowhide print decorating a jean jacket. And get a load of the zoo animal illustrations that appeared on a boxy tee and pencil skirt. This was as loose as Maxwell’s been in years, maybe ever.
Funnily enough, he said he started the collection with wool silk failles and constricted and tight shapes. His shoulders bunched up near his ears as he remembered those early samples, and who wants to feel like that? For an antidote, he packed his team into the car and headed to the Design Library in the Hudson Valley, to see if anything sparked joy. “I’ve been trying to lean into my little pleasures in life and the things that make me happy,” he explained. “Part of what I was trying to do was tap into a sort of whimsical, childlike wonder.”
We’ve been hearing a lot about individual style lately; designers have assumed a less prescriptive attitude. It suits Maxwell. He’s tried on different styles and specialities over his 10 years in fashion—power tailoring and power ball gowns, among them—and has recently settled into a relaxed, yet urbane sportswear groove. Here, more of his Texas twang emerged: those bold buckles, the metal tip wedges, the leather bolo ties. For every well constructed jacket there was another silhouette in fluid jersey, and another in voluminous silk nylon, including a fun belted tracksuit sprouting feathers from the collar in cherry red. No constricted shapes—of the literal or the metaphorical variety.