BROCK COLLECTION AW15’16 READY-TO-WEAR NEW YORK FASHION WEEK

Brock Collection is just three seasons old, but the husband-and-wife duo behind the brand, Kris Brock and Laura Vassar, has quickly gained a cult following. Credit their full résumés for the lack of missteps new labels often experience: Vassar worked as a stylist in L.A. for several years before enrolling in Parsons, where she met Brock, a skilled tailor. After graduating, getting married, and working in various jobs, they made their vision for romanticized, elevated basics a reality.

Fall marked their New York fashion week debut. Presented in the sunny Highline Room at the Standard Hotel, well-cut jackets and knits mingled with custom embroideries, a fuzzy slate-blue tapestry print, and pale gold separates. The clothes were simple, but special; American, but also a little French. And all those prints and textures looked good layered on top of each other. Each garment was constructed with the tiniest details in mind, from bias stitching that created soft draping on a smock-front dress to the hidden snaps on a no-frills leather jacket. During a preview, the designers toyed with the lengths of sashes, tying them in big bows at the back or obi-style on the front. In the end, they went with a smaller bow on the side to punctuate floor-grazing shirtdresses, one in a moody floral and another in crisp cotton.

“We wanted to design clothes my friends and my mom would want,” Vassar said. Upscale, yes, but these were clothes you could actually wear—they didn’t feel too precious. Not to mention the fact that Vassar just gave birth to the couple’s first baby and had ease, comfort, and wearability on the brain. On that note, editors zeroed in on the massive, reversible black leather and shearling coat: It would have been useful for the subzero temperatures we’ve been experiencing this week.