By Rachel Tashjian, CNN
New York (CNN) — Much of the world is reeling from heinous realizations about men following the newly released tranche of Epstein files: that men in elite posts across government, business and academia have run the world corrupt and unchecked; that such men can pull the strings that influence everything from politics to college admissions to supermodel party guest lists.
But the American fashion scene offered a little respite: at an otherwise wan New York Fashion Week, which wrapped on Monday, a cohort of female designers stood out for making clothes that women actually want to wear. Most of these designers are not raking in the revenues of big European brands like Dior or Chanel. But unlike luxury businesses that present the runway as a fantasy to buoy handbag and perfume sales, these women are engaged in a deep relationship with their customers, who are finding pleasure in their beautifully cut tailoring, ravishing brocade coats and workaday, throw-it-on-for-that-million-bucks-feeling dresses.
“They lack that theatricality on the runway,” said Kaelen Haworth, the designer turned retailer behind Canadian boutique Absolutely Fabrics, which carries Ashlyn, Diotima, Colleen Allen and Fforme. “But the payoff is that they actually make it into women’s wardrobes.”
American fashion is often considered the parochial commercial cousin of the grand, artistic European brands. But with many of those houses (Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Gucci – the list goes on) led creatively by men, American designers see themselves as a meaningful contrast, and their salability as a point of strength.
“I really feel there’s more and more male dominant forces at the biggest brands – there’s only men dressing women. So I wanted to say, Hey, this is sexy,” said Collina Strada designer Hillary Taymour, who showed a number of sultry but funky slip dresses – always the bestseller in her Chinatown store, according to the designer, and the kind of thing you wear so often to go out to dinner or grab a latte in the morning that it stays in a heap on your bedside chair rather than ever making it to a hanger in the closet.
“The customer as the muse is how I think of it, rather than turning her into ‘my woman,’” said Daniella Kallmeyer, a South African-born, New York–based designer, who this season elevated her offering of sharp suiting with pieces intended to stand up to vintage discoveries, like jeweled cocktail trousers, sultry grandma knits and jackets cut from fine Italian milled fabrics. “She is the reason for my being, and her life, her existence, her story is what creates these puzzle pieces for me to fill in,” she said. “I think that is probably distinctly feminine.”
A similar ethos was on display at Ashlyn, where designer Ashlynn Park’s nubby skirt suits and distinctive blouses are so appealingly unusual that a customer might find herself suddenly excited to get dressed for the office.
Whether these are the sensual crotchet gowns of Diotima, by Rachel Scott, or the more transportive whimsies of Tory Burch or Anna Sui, there’s a sense that these designers create without regard for what men might find compelling – not in a Man Repeller way, but rather flexing on your fellow women with a polished but eccentric ensemble, with an enviable secondhand find and a luxe pair of trousers. “I do find all of these designers to be good at creating what I think are incredibly sexy clothes, but there is little weight given to the male gaze,” said Haworth. “These ar