Electric Feathers (Q2993)
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Electric Feathers is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Electric Feathers |
Electric Feathers is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
The ’80s have long been a touchstone forElectric Feathersfounder Leana Zuniga, who grew up during the era and considers lamé an everyday luxury. But with the decade trending heavily in other Spring ’17 collections, her glam, billowing clothes looked particularly relevant this season. Even a minimalist shopper might go for Zuniga’s signature pants—rounded, pleated, and rib cage–high—which came in a sheeny emerald this time around. A boxy top and shorts were even flashier in chrome silk. Decadent? Yes! But they still looked comfy and effortless, two things Zuniga’s customers require on a daily basis.Elsewhere, Zuniga reworked her usual rope-neck convertible dresses, cropped jumpsuits, and hooded parkas, but there was one big change: Every piece was unisex. Luckily, it didn’t require a huge shift in her design process, as her pieces have always been a bit oversize and boxy. The androgyny underlined the fact that these were really just simple, classic pieces. A juicy color or strange fabric might feel new, but “they’re still things you’ll never need to give away,” Zuniga said. Call it “future vintage,” or the opposite of flash-in-the-pan trends.
21 October 2016
At a time when women are shopping less, the issue ofwearabilityis on everyone’s lips. If something isn’t comfortable or you can’t wear it for multiple occasions, is it worth squeezing into your closet? Probably not. As such, a lot of designers have been prioritizing ease and versatility in their collections, but few dresses will work as hard as Electric Feathers’s drapey, inventive frocks, which can be twisted around the neck like a halter, worn straight and flowy, or unhooked like a robe. Those convertible pieces have appeared in all of Leana Zuniga’s collections, and this season she offered them in ruffled black silk, as well as shimmering gold and brown lamé. The billowing silhouettes, high-shine finishes, and “off” colors aren’t exactly new for the brand; Zuniga has a signature and sticks to it. Other designers reinvent themselves each season, but her loyal customers rely on her for those familiar, vaguely Japanese pieces.Zuniga’s news this season was her leather jumpsuits. She designed her own black leather overalls (sans buckles or zippers) and wore them all winter with sweaters and tees. Women constantly stopped her on the street to ask where she got them, so she designed a rich burgundy version as well as a cognac velvet pair. They were some of the simplest, most body-conscious clothes she’s shown in a while, and the endless styling possibilities will make them a no-brainer investment piece.
24 March 2016
People only vaguely familiar with the label Electric Feathers may be tempted, viewing its collections, to see very little change over the years. Members of the growing Electric Feathers club can see the evolution, however. Designer Leana Zuniga is committed to certain looks—blouson trousers, architectural sundresses, rope-necked jumpsuits—but she’s updated her silhouettes of late, and elevated her fabrications. The most obvious change this season was Zuniga’s deployment of print, which she generally eschews. Her fine stripe and tonal ikat introduced a distinct, albeit understated sense of rhythm to the pieces where they were found, while a more graphic print of joined hands added some jolt to the new collection without detracting from its overall, minimalist hippie vibe.Electric Feathers aficionados will also note that Zuniga jettisoned her signature harem pant silhouette in favor an exaggerated jodhpur; girls with a religious affinity for harem hems can continue to find them in the one-shoulder, knee-length romper, another new shape. Zuniga’s best innovation on that front, however, was her broad-legged trouser and jumpsuit, with an overlayer of fabric that made the items read more like a voluminous skirt or dress. Pieces like that explain the Electric Feathers cult: These are clothes impossible to categorize as casual or dressy. You can wear them either way, and they’re both at once. The tailored garments that punctuated the collection erred more toward the casual side; items in peach-toned silk lamé veered dressy. But Zuniga’s allergy to fussiness always prevails, and to such a degree that it’s possible to overlook the rigor of her method. But make no mistake: As this season reaffirmed, Leana Zuniga brings a steel-spined discipline to bear on her project, which is to reinvent the look and feel of the “basic.”
21 October 2015
Asked at the last gasp of a Paris appointment how she came up with the name Electric Feathers, Leana Zuniga tells a tale of serendipitous inspiration circuitously—via a shining moon, Sitting Bull, and badgering her artist father for a print. Earlier she stresses that those are rectangles, not squares, on the gray and taupe Peruvian baby alpaca knits: "I'm into the divine geometry. If I can incorporate it, then I do." If anything, Zuniga's clothes recount her shaman-flavored, '70s-reared, all-organic sensibility more concisely than she does. The granola-toned wooden buttons on her fly-fronted, spongy cuffed, and collared silk peasant-ish blouse or smock dress are market-stall alt, yet finished as finely as anything from the Garment District. Marvelously, Chic wore matching rope-tied Electric Feathers Genie lamé jumpsuits for a gig alongside Nile Rodgers in New York last month—both performers and outfits looked of their time yet beyond it, too. Zuniga's Propeller dress features diamond-sided flying pockets at each side to allow for full-hipped swagger, while similarly but with more nuance her narrow-calfed, high-waisted herringbone jodhpur pants have a swashbuckling fullness for the sake of movement and freeing discretion. It's not all ambiently Anjelica Huston attire, though. Zuniga's black bouclé culottes are as convincing as any out there right now, balanced beautifully between fit and flare. Earth-womenswear.
20 March 2015
Electric Feathers' latest offering tells a story that's a fairly familiar one for the brand: of a dauntless, globe-trotting woman; of pieces to be dressed up or dressed down, to be balled up and shoved into carpetbags. But Leana Zuniga's Spring retelling was strong enough to make up for a perhaps less-than-revelatory premise. Her woman? Sporty yet soigné, and perhaps even a bit swashbuckling. The designer served up her signature oversize shapes: harem pants; caftans; a baggy, boatnecked one-piece. Particularly compelling is Zuniga's keen eye for materials, which range from coarse raw silks to pricey hemps that look and feel light-years away from head shop threads—unfussy luxury across the board.While many labels make promises of versatility and dresses to take you from the beach to the ball, Electric Feathers' pieces cogently deliver. Zuniga spun her best-selling Infinite Rope dress (so named for the near-countless styling possibilities its long belt offers) into a terrific sage-colored jumpsuit. Also standout was a swingy, tuxedo-style sleeveless shirtdress in rich cream. It felt, indeed, like it could be thrown on with flip-flops and one of Spring's hardy blazers, or with a bangle, pumps, and a swipe of lipstick.
13 October 2014
While Electric Feathers designer Leana Zuniga made no concessions where her usual billowing shapes were concerned, her Fall offering was notably more lissome than collections past. Perhaps that's owed in part to a couple of heavyweight influences. When presenting the pieces, Zuniga name-dropped Yohji Yamamoto (circa the eighties) and Isadora Duncan, both of who represent different sorts of lightness. Yamamoto could be spotted in a boxy, utilitarian, funnel-neck jacket and tool-belt-like vest, both in indigo-and-cream-checked raw silk (the latter tricked out with black plastic snap buckles that felt improbably charming). Duncan, meanwhile, came through in diaphanous numbers, like Electric Feathers' signature Infinite Rope dress, which stunned in a blush double georgette. There was plenty of gossamer silk lamé, too. A gorgeous swingy ivory coat with poet sleeves and a chunky, striped silk belt was a true standout, and bore hints of the Ballets Russes around the edges.Even at its most dialed-back, the label is going to be a hard sell for some women—for the body-conscious, for those who'd rather their clothing show off weeks' worth of Pilates rather than double as an ensemble in which to do Pilates. But Zuniga comes by her aesthetic quirks so naturally, it's hard to escape their pull. Fall boasts some of her most impressive fare yet, and with a boutique on Williamsburg's South Side just opened? Things look bright for the brand.
26 March 2014
On a spontaneous trip to Morocco over the summer, Electric Feathers' Leana Zuniga found herself short on easy clothes that travel well, so she addressed that predicament by filling her new Spring lineup with pieces ideal for rolling up and tossing in a suitcase. Keeping the nomadic lifestyle in mind, Zuniga updated convertible signatures like her Infinite Rope Dress (which just might be the one thing we'd take to a desert island because of its endless styling possibilities) and billowy, drop-crotch Ali Baba trousers. Zuniga revisits those best-sellers every season; what felt new was her "happy" color palette. Lightweight V-neck jumpsuits and draped ponchos came in a range of hand-dyed neon shades, while fluttery melon-hued camisoles and flirty fuchsia frocks were cut from slippery silk charmeuse. Zuniga balanced those more feminine items with menswear-inspired shirtdresses and cargo-pocket parkas. The real standout was an iridescent lilac trapeze dress; it was made for a woman on the move.
17 October 2013
In the past, Electric Feathers' Leana Zuniga has typically focused on convertibility over construction. This season, she branched out, adding sweaters and footwear to her repertoire. Knitwear came in the form of oversize grandpa sweaters and blanket wraps, as well as fuzzy mohair cropped jackets. She also introduced chunky knee-high suede boots that you could really stomp around in. There was a refreshing efficiency to her Fall lineup, which was inspired by Amelia Earhart. Earhart's influence was apparent in the lightweight worsted-wool jumpsuits decorated with utilitarian cargo pockets, as well as the white shirtdresses. Of course, some of Zuniga's signature style-any-way-you-want sack dresses and "Ali Baba" pants also made appearances here, but they seemed somehow more sophisticated this time around, particularly when cinched with slim belts with gold hardware created by her artist boyfriend Facundo Newbery.
21 March 2013
Convertibility and comfort have always been the modus operandi at Electric Feathers. Freewheeling designer Leana Zuniga can tie one of her signature Infinite Rope dresses at least 15 different ways and wasn't bashful about demonstrating her creative styling skills while acting as fit model at a preview of her Spring collection. "I grew up in California changing into bathing suits in my car," Zuniga said, expertly whipping through the various transmutations of amorphous cotton gauze pieces like "origami" pants that can convert into a jumpsuit or a dress.Zuniga's new video, based on Agatha Christie's novelEvil Under the Sunand starring rocker Melissa Auf der Maur, underscores the on-trend Asian vibe of the lineup. Kimono jackets and silk capes are cinched with obi belts and paired with lampshade hats and Geta-inspired sandals. Overall, it was the simplest looks that were best. A short leather romper and a white cotton "Geisha" dress with a U-back and deep pockets stood out. "No embellishments; these clothes are yours to style. I give the customer the shape and she punctuates it," Zuniga said.
11 October 2012