Aren’t there enough refined clothes on the planet to satisfy all who desire them? With Spring 2015, designer Sylvie Millstein made a pretty convincing argument that her 2-year-old line, Hellessy, deserves a spot in the thinking woman’s already crowded wardrobe. “I really wanted to dress an aesthete,” she said of this season’s muse, a downtown gallery owner whose clothes must be cool and cultivated. Young Brooklyn artist Rachel Pontious loaned a few of her reimagined family portraits to serve as a backdrop at the Wednesday morning presentation, and Millstein’s color palette—lots of ecru, olive, and poppy red—was inspired by the paintings. Millstein, who spent years working as a buying manager at Chanel, usually keeps her focus on long and lean silhouettes, with an emphasis on separates. This season there were also plenty of dress options, and even a few alternative evening gowns, including a black silk apron number and an ecru-and-poppy-striped canvas column with a uniquely ruffled waist. She paid close attention to the back, adding a shirred train to a stingray-printed silk maxi dress and an abbreviated version to a sleeveless linen blouse. Some of the most head-turning looks, though, were the most relaxed, including a pair of striped jersey sailor pants—”dramatic but also casual,” said Millstein—and a Bolivian macramé top knotted into a houndstooth pattern, worn with a pair of black viscose Bermudas. Millstein is making headway at retail—Barneys is a big customer—which means her line is resonating with the customer. Maybe there is room for one more.