Alabama Chanin (Q2570)
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Alabama Chanin is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Alabama Chanin |
Alabama Chanin is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Natalie Chanin is easing into her 20th-anniversary year with a collection titled “Soft.” Much of it is made using a lightweight cotton jersey that the designer describes as “very nurturing.” As always, the hand stitching is a reminder of connection and human touch, which so many are craving after the isolation caused by the pandemic.We’re not coming back to the world we knew; much has been lost. Processing this will take time, and, says Chanin, “requires us to be soft and kind to ourselves and to others.” As this collection came together she found comfort and a mantra in these words from the artist Jenny Holzer: “Turn soft and lovely any time you have a chance.”The pale stretch cotton pieces in this lineup guarantee such a transformation. The bows and painted or embroidered florals are enchanting, but they’ve been designed with a real-life perspective. All pieces, explains Chanin, must pass “the driving children, dancing, grocery test,” which means, like sports clothes, they need to fit to and move with the body. That they do so, she says, has a lot to do with the team’s intricate patternmaking, which is showcased on the feminine “Fernando” skirt, named for the late designer Fernando Sánchez, with whom Chanin designed it back in the day. It’s but one reissue in the fall collection; Chanin promised more to come, delivered, doubtless, with a soft touch.
26 April 2021
When Natalie Chanin moved home to Alabama in 2000 to work on what she thought was a finite project, she could not have imagined that she was actuallylaying the groundworkfor a brand that’s now been around for two decades, nor would she have dreamed that in 2020 mask making would see her company through a pandemic. But then, it’s often the case that reality has more plot twists than fiction.Spring’s collection is a new, tighter chapter in the story Chanin started telling last fall. Recurring characters include outerwear—like a great peacoat that takes its color and water fastness from the painted fabric it’s made of—and the brand’s signature hand-stitched striped skirts. Moving the plot forward is a new energy that is mainly generated by an expressive hand-painted floral that feels refreshingly free and pretty. The addition of a polo shirt to the lineup (often styled as a layering piece) was an unexpected, almost sporty touch.Chanin played structure against ease this season; and it’s the latter that sings. It’s not just that waffle-knit separates seemed destined for a WFH wardrobe, but also the association of softness with tactile comfort and flexibility. The designer said she wanted things to feel “more loose and joyful,” and they do.
15 September 2020
“We’ve worked our row and we’re still here,” said Alabama Chanin at her presentation in New York. As her brand approaches the 20-year mark, the designer and her team have been cataloging their archive for a future donation. “It felt like an interesting time to peek back at some of that work that came early on,” said Chanin. “I think we will continue to look back and forward at the same time.”Whatever direction Chanin takes, she’ll always come out in the lead. The truth is that the industry is just beginning to wake up to issues this designer, a pioneer of slow fashion, has been addressing for decades. A good chunk ofFashionopolis, Dana Thomas’s book on the state of fashion in relation to sustainability, is devoted to Alabama Chanin. The designer and businesswoman looks at the subject from the angles of material, culture, and community.The fall 2020 collection was signature Chanin, with some new twists, like hand-painted fabrics that had sheen and a firm hand. Though the silhouettes were simple, and would fit easily into different wardrobes, these looks are for individualists with an eye for detail and an appreciation for the craft work that went into a hand-pieced and topstitched trench, say, or a cotton top with foliate embroidery. Trend-resistant, they are about materials, skill, and the hands that made them. “Maybe it’s not enough to be sustainable just in terms of your material,” mused Chanin, who believes in the value of quality.As 80% of the Alabama Chanin line is made in the United States through a completely unbroken chain, and it’s possible to read a homespun quality into some of the pieces, it’s worth asking Chanin if there is anything particularly American about her brand. “That’s an interesting question,” she said. “When we were selling at Barneys, we were always hanging in the Japanese area, so it would be like: Undercover, Issey Miyake, Alabama Chanin, Comme des Garçons. I definitely think there is an American influence, but I also think there’s something about it that doesn’t feel American.” Good design has nothing to do with borders, and really there’s no need to fly the flag when you are busy enacting change. That Chanin, she’s true blue.
29 February 2020
Natalie "Alabama" Chanin does good work(s). She compiles oral histories of Southern textile workers, salvages old quilts, and is striving to make her business zero-waste. All of the stitchers who create Chanin's (quite literally) homespun garments work from their own houses and live within an hour-and-a-half radius of her family and business base of Florence, Alabama. And they use organic materials grown and produced in the good ole U.S. of A.—a fact proudly announced on the Alabama Chanin label. Is it any wonder she's a Fashion Fund finalist?This is actually the second time Alabama Chanin, the person, has been in the running. The last time was when she was a partner in Project Alabama (with which she is no longer associated)."It's tight and succinct," the designer said of her Spring collection, which came in hues of doeskin, earth, blush, ruby, and midnight blue. "It's very clean." You won't find bandage dresses or miniskirts at Alabama Chanin, but that doesn't mean she's not offering something more than just folksy charm: Witness a wrap top with a flyaway back train that offered a peek of skin, for instance. But it's the handwork, of course—the couching, the reverse appliqués, the "Alabama fur" (really strands of thread) —that keeps fans rooting for the home team.
10 September 2009