Markarian (Q3312)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Markarian is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Markarian |
Markarian is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
It’s the holiday season, so you’ve likely been seeing a lot of Markarian—and its signature exaggerated bow shoulders— worn by It-girls in NYC and beyond like singer-songwriter Laufey and her twin sister Junia Lin. Or perhaps you’ve become familiar with the brand through their collaboration with Vibi Venezia, which took the internet by storm this summer. Either way, one thing for sure is that Ali O’Neill and her whimsical Markarian aesthetic are taking over among the Gen Z crowd.This season, the designer was thinking about her childhood and her favorite story books and characters and used them as inspiration.Winnie the Pooh, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Rabbit, and more make an appearance in the collection’s patterns and prints. A beautiful pink Peter Pan-collared midi dress was decorated with vintage florals fit for a princess, while a sunny yellow plaid gown made from a light and airy silk shantung looked like it was made for picnics in the sun.The season’s show-stopping moment came with a strapless gown with a hand-beaded and hand-sequined floral motif. Cascading from a neutral beige to bright yellow; the dress looked equally stunning photographed with or without flash. For all the young celebrities scouring the market for looks ahead of awards season, it may be best to get in line now.
13 December 2024
Designer Alexandra O’Neill’s nephew was born just a few weeks ago, and she had her ever-growing family of nieces and nephews on her mind for her spring 2025 collection. “I was thinking about how we grew up as kids and how we used to run around my grandparents’ backyard in Long Island wearing matching outfits,” she said. Her drawing board began by sourcing prints and patterns reminiscent of childhood, from dainty eyelet trims to preppy ginghams and even floral prints reminiscent of the wallpaper you would find in a little girl’s room.While there is a stereotype about adults who dress in matching looks, for O’Neill, you’re never too old to twin with your loved ones. Throughout her collection, she used identical prints and fabrications but switched up the detailing, so that while you’d look similar, you wouldn’t be wearing the same item. Butter yellow embroidered fabric was used to create two gowns—the Sonja and the Pyrra—with one featuring cutout detailing and the other without; an excellent option for any future bridesmaids.Markarian may be known for evening dresses, but new this season was more casual daywear. Ruche-detailed Italian cotton dresses and tanks accompanied some of the fancier pieces in the collection; perfect for those who may not be going to many events. “We’ve added a lot of daywear this season, which is not something we have focused on in the past,” said O’Neill. “It’s slightly more elevated than a plain cotton day dress, but these new pieces are made of great Italian cotton, with a little ruching and little floral details. You can wear them around the city, or if you throw heels on, they can even take you to a summer wedding.” And while one doesn’t necessarily associate denim with Markarian, as of this season, keep the label in mind. The designer successfully experimented with an embroidered denim eyelet with colorful sequined florals reminiscent of the fun jeans we wore in elementary school.
9 September 2024
Before editors even entered the Manhattan showroom where Markarian designer Alexandra O’Neill was presenting her latest collection, there was a hint as to what her inspiration was—in the form of a pop-meets-disco playlist that could be heard from the hallway outside.“I wanted to build a collection that was very holiday-appropriate, fun, and festive,” O’Neill said, “so I looked to Cher in the ’70s.” The influence was apparent in a wavy psychedelic print on crinkled silk-chiffon which O’Neill fashioned into a mini swing dress, a beaded cropped blouse and an A-line skirt. Sequin dresses—one in dark green featuring an attached silk scarf, and another in burgundy with a flouncy, car wash hem—were among the party looks, along with a periwinkle satin dress with a cagework paillette overlay. Markarian’s most recent take on suiting was a bright red crystal-embellished flared blazer and matching hot shorts. “It feels very… performance-based,” O’Neill said, taking her time to land on the right description. “It’s something you could wear on stage.”Ever loyal to her core collection—a handful of pieces Markarian has offered since launching in 2017—O’Neill gave the silhouettes new colors and textures. This season’s corseted Apple Dress was “a really cute pink and red polka dot cloqué version with a full skirt and little red bow details,” she said.While much of the collection realized O’Neill’s ’70s fashion dreams, an embroidered pashmina added a hint of early-aughts nostalgia. “It’s hard to find an elevated evening jacket or coat that makes sense for your wardrobe, so we included a wrap to go with a lot of the looks,” she said, noting that the piece brings back memories for her and her friends. “We are girls of the pashmina generation. When I was growing up, my mom would always say, ‘Do you have your pashmina with you?’"
14 June 2024
There was a sacred and ethereal element to Alexandra O’Neill’s fall 2024 collection. Inspired by a trip to Venice where she visited local churches, she incorporated immaculate- and sacred-heart motifs into pieces, a change from the usual. “I started getting sick of florals,” said O’Neill. “I never thought I would ever say that. But we really have a lot of painterly, geometric prints and embroideries.” This inclusion also acted as a strategic business move for the designer, offering a wider variety for customers who might be new to the world of eveningwear.Not only were there new prints, but O’Neill also incorporated new styles into her collection, including a structured peplum jacket that paired with satin pants and felt like a more casual approach to eveningwear. Other new styles, like the Gwendolyn gown, had a metallic floral top paired with a dramatic mermaid bottom. And while the gown may have looked impossible to sit in from afar, thanks to O’Neill’s publicist who asked the model to test it, we can confirm that you can comfortably recline and get back to the party in these pieces.Although Markarian isn’t typically associated with simple black dresses, O’Neill made sure to incorporate a few for those who want a more minimal look. A bias-cut gown looked like your simple black dress from the front but, from the back, had a cascading train paired with an exaggerated bow, making for a great look-twice moment.
13 February 2024
There isn’t always a one-to-one correlation between what is happening in a designer’s life and what they produce. Nor do show notes always tell the whole, or most revealing, story. Case in point: On a preview of her pre-fall collection Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill explained that she tries on every design because she couldn’t expect other women to wear something she wouldn’t. That straightforward statement explained the intent of the lineup, and the brand, with more clarity than any moodboard could. Yes, Markarian had been on safari, but her choice to use tiger stripes was unrelated; those big cats, she explained, are native to India. (Plus she had been looking at paintings by Henri Rousseau.) And while O’Neill did see plenty of reptiles in Africa, the pressed croc she used on a belted cropped jacket read more ’80s than Animal Kingdom.The mantra at Markarian is to make pretty dresses that people feel good in, nothing overwrought. This season the brand’s warped florals were offered in “peach fuzz” and a gray-blue that was nicely set off by a touch of black, like a pretty bow at the center-front of a corset gown. A black velvet column with a foldover of faille fabric at the bust iterated on tuxedo dressing. Another pretty neckline treatment was the gentle scoop on a white off-the-shoulder dress with a pattern of spiky gold flowers. O’Neill likes to dance with decades and button pocket-flaps on dresses felt a bit ’40s, while a sunny yellow dress prettified with self-fabric streamers that extended down the back had a go-go mini vibe.
12 December 2023
Alexandra O’Neill is one of several shell collectors we’ve encountered this season. These sea treasures, which were introduced for resort in a more literal, and referential, way, had been transformed by the waves of inspiration. Apart from a molded bag, the designer took a more subtle approach, using ruffles, scalloped edges, and undulating lines as stand-ins for seaweed, shells, and tides. The idea, she explained, was to drift away from mermaidcore without abandoning all of its prettiness. One of the ways O’Neill achieved that goal was by photographing her look book on an estate in the English countryside that had a shell grotto. (Imagine a supersize sailor’s valentine.)The art-loving designer had her perennial favorite, Botticelli’sBirth of Venus,on her mood board, hence the focus on shells and flowers. The latter patterned a pretty, floaty floral coat (worn with little shorts) inspired by the the painting. Alongside the particulars, O’Neill pulled from the artwork a feeling of rebirth and opening up that goes hand in hand with spring. The casting and setting actually lent a Pre-Raphaelite Ophelia aspect to some of the more romantic looks, like a fluffy yet sheer dress with puff sleeves in white.Change at Markarian is driven by fabric choice more than anything else. O’Neill isn’t thinking about creating a soup-to-nuts kind of wardrobe; rather, she’s focused on creating options for a variety of dress-up events. As there are boxes to check—options for Ascot, wedding, prom, dinner party in different styles such as “naked,” long, short, and so on—there can be looks that satisfy the need without contributing to the narrative of the offering as a whole. There was less of that this season: Perhaps the well-chosen location contributed to the sense that this was a more contained, and coherent, collection.
9 September 2023
Slim Aarons romanced Palm Springs like no other. While designing her resort collection, Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill got caught up in the spell of the photographer’s famous 1970 image, titledGossip,which depicts a poolside idyll at a Richard Neutra house. The designer’s palette, strong on yellow and greens, was derived from the image, and a white crochet dress with hand-applied details at the hem related to one of the openwork outfits captured on film.It’s not difficult to see a connection between the festive good life as depicted inGossipand Markarian’s dressed-up, ladylike aesthetic, captured best here by a New Look–style suit with wonderful seaming details. If you paired the jacket with jeans or the skirt with a tank, say, you could evoke some of the relaxed ease Aarons saw. The designer herself is fond of such dressy/casual mixes and it would be interesting to see that kind of styling in her collections.Newness at Markarian often comes through fabric selection, as it did again this season. But something else was happening here too: O’Neill evolved some of her signatures in a trio of chic dresses—all short, by the way. A beaded crystal and glass bead sheath with a side slit simplified the dazzle she used for fall, and a silky black dress with pretty streamers and mirror embroidery of disco-ball brilliance built on her use of reflective embellishments, seen in last year’s resort offering. Also striking was the way O’Neill adapted the corset-fit of her best-selling model to a bias-cut body with a draped skirt. There’s a floor-sweeping version in a cherry red floral, but the cocktail-length number is a simpler and strong take on the classic LBD.
7 June 2023
Pierpaolo Piccioli’s club couture collection for Valentino seems to have identified a collective longing and nostalgia for joy. There’s a lot of dressing up with nowhere to go. The “rubber chicken” fundraising dinners of the booming 1980s are a thing of the past, as is, for the most part, the dance culture that gave rise to supper clubs and venues like Le Palace in Paris and London’s Blitz Club.Still, Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill had a night on the town in mind when creating her fall lineup. The designer recently lost her grandmother, and she was mulling over the stories her beloved nan told her over the years. In the ’40s and ’50s, her grandparents liked to cut a rug at Club Zanzibar.Taking liberties with the time stamp, the idea of a big night out became the theme of this collection, which was presented, with much charm, in a house in the West Village. Both a royal blue sequined halter dress and pantsuit channeled a ’70s Studio 54 vibe. print. The draping on other looks referenced the ’30s, a decade many designers are leaning into this season. “It feels right because I think that people are interested in showing off their bodies, but in a more retro way,” Markarian said, “and I think ’30s silhouettes were body-con.”Apart from its prettiness, there was no real throughline in this collection. A gold paillette skirt with a ’60s Rabanne vibe and a lovely off-the-shoulder cocktail number with a side-drape in a metallic floral jacquard didn’t really talk to each other. But two of the most successful designs weren’t retro at all. Combining soft draping with embellishments, the all-white body caressing numbers looked modern and elegant.
16 February 2023
Naomi Biden Neal wore a custom Markarian design at her own wedding reception. Closer to home, the designer moved to a new skylit studio downtown and staged a full-on fashion show for spring.That show would have benefited from an organizing narrative structure; happily one was in place for pre-fall. “I basically started off this collection with Fellini and did a little nod toLa Dolce Vita,” O’Neill explained. The designer paid homage to Anita Ekberg’s sexy black Trevi Fountain costume with a curvy strapless column picked out in rhinestones with and a tiny ruffle at the bust, but overall the collection channeled an early 1960s party vibe.O’Neill’s familiar warped florals made an appearance, shown alongside some blister lamé fabrics and a deco flower motif that on some looks was over-beaded. A bit more casual and leaning toward a retro Italian Riviera vibe were the pieces made in black-and-white gingham. The outlier was the single psychedelic piece, though it was a marvel of handicraft. Like several other dresses in the collection this dress was in what O’Neill called an “uber mini” length. These short options fit like a glove in a different way than the pieces with inner corseting, but in both cases the sense of being supported somehow felt reassuring rather than oppressive.Speaking of a particular look, O’Neill said, “It’s not one of those pieces you have to really fidget in, although it looks like it’s maybe a little bit fussy.” The point being, as super feminine as a Markarian dress may be it is also an easy, one-and-done proposition for dressing up.
7 December 2022
“I’m an art history major and I always go back to art history for my inspiration,” said Alexandra O’Neill of her approach to fashion. Known for her floral dresses, the designer plucked this season’s blooms from Renaissance paintings. You could see the Botticelli references in the small embroidery on a shorts suit that was one of the few looks in the show that could be mixed and matched with other garments already in a woman’s wardrobe. The few other day-leaning looks in the collection felt like afterthoughts in a lineup devoted to the party dress.O’Neill chose the Harry F. Sinclair House, now the Ukrainian Institute of America, as the location for her presentation. The castle-like exterior of the mansion, designed in the late 19th century in what has been described as the “eclectic French Renaissance” style, felt in sync with what O’Neill describes as the brand’s “whimsical romanticism,” as well as the princess dress-up aspect of her clothes.The designer said she wanted to adapt her historical sources for a modern woman, but in this collection there were nods to more current looks by Christian Dior and Valentino (see the final dress), as well as continuity with her pre-COVID collections. Yes, people want to go back to having fun, but are they the same–is life the same?–as it was in the before times?As the models descended the carpeted, carved dark wood staircase, some with tiaras, I couldn’t help but think that similar dresses had been descending those steps for decades. The silhouettes were faithful to shapes from the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, the vibe was vintage—seemingly without irony or any other kind of filter. A dress can just be a dress, but at the same time fashion is a mirror of society. As such, how are we to read these decontextualized silhouettes, this decorative femininity, borrowed from eras when women’s lives were proscriptive? Especially at a time when neoconservatism is on the rise across the globe and the Supreme Court here in the U.S. has set the clock back on women’s autonomy? Nostalgia might be a way to take back the night, but we must also fight for our rights.
15 September 2022
Resort fragments designers’ attention. They have to consider opposing climates and offer events and escape dressing all at the same time. This year, said Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill, “we really wanted to do a collection that would work just as well on a tropical vacation as it would for a New Year’s celebration. Macrame, best in a bead-fringed mini, spoke to the former; a strapless fuschia minidress with embroidered squares, rectangle, and heart embroidery, the latter.O’Neill leaned into the ’80s, the decade in which she was born, for her palette and a bold floral print. A hero piece, in the form of a black bolero jacket with red piping and glass “M&M’s,” also had some of the decorativeness of that time. The team was listening to the 1980 hit “9 to 5” and other Dolly Parton tunes, as they put the collection together. This designer’s take on the “working girl” theme—and on fashion in general—is focused on out-of-office options. “I like the idea of leaning hard into the femininity of pieces because for so long I think that women weren’t really taken seriously if they dressed a certain way or didn’t dress a certain way…. I don’t feel like that should be the case,” O’Neill said.The designer was, as Kate Bush sings, “running up that hill” this season. There was a fire at the fabric factory she works with—no one was hurt, thankfully—and the team had just a month to start over. The result is a something-for-everyone collection which lacked editorial cohesion. The connection between a leisure suit and a Jackie-like bow sheath was hard to parse. It’s possible, though, that this “anything goes” approach or “enjoy it while you can” feeling is a kind of expression of underlying anxiety. “I think everybody feels as if something is coming, like we’re on the brink of something that’s not excellent,” said O’Neill. “I’m one day at a time right now.”
13 June 2022
Alexandra O’Neill, the White House- and party girl-approved designer, who grew up reading F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker, said her fall collection was inspired by the Roaring Twenties. She also seemed to take on the Y2K trend in ways unique to her ladylike aesthetic—and not just via bare midriffs on the runway. Seated front row among a cadre of corseted Markarian fans were two presidential granddaughters, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, and Candace Bushnell, the journalist whose life-on-the-town column was the basis forSex and the City.The fashion plates of late 1990s and early 2000s New York were socialites, who worked a gala circuit akin to that captured in Tom Wolfe’sBonfire of the Vanities. Back before the three Is: Internet, Influencer, and Instagram came to rule the industry, the cameras to be captured by belonged to Bill Cunningham and Patrick McMullan. For after-dark the look was definitely dressed up and ladylike.O’Neill follows in a long tradition of New York designers who cater to women who prefer to look pretty and polished; her price point makes that luxe look relatively more accessible. Casual dressing isn’t for everyone, but women need to dress for day as well as night, and the designer addressed the former with pieces like a smart winter white coat and shacket. Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” on the soundtrack underlined the focus of a fall collection which tended toward glitz and glamour. A pair of beaded fringe shorts worn with a latticed black blazer felt far out of Markarian’s range. Sequined sheaths were one of the main messages for fall; another, and the most modern, was slip dresses with lace insets.The collection careened from sparkly paisleys to bustled dresses; from shorts to a mullet dress. What unified these various looks was their vintage-y vibe, which was reinforced by the styling, set, and choreography. “I make clothing that is hyper feminine and whimsical, and I really want our runway to be able to reflect that,” said O’Neill, who had models strike poses before heading down the runway, some wearing veils, others with peacock feathers in their hair. Such touches of old school glamour belong to gilded ages past. In contrast, the Markarian wearers in the front row paired their pretty dresses with tattoos or neon, clunky shoes à la Carrie Bradshaw—and just like that it was easy to see how this beloved brand has the possibility to move ladylike dressing forward.
14 February 2022
Despite uncertainty around the Omicron variant and fears of a winter COVID wave, the trend for optimistic “reemergence” fashion doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Many consumers have resumed their normal lives and then some, with the supply shortages to prove it; between work, social events, and travel, they have plenty of reasons to shop. But there’s still a catch for occasion-wear and bridal designers. Long a resource for bridal and party dresses, Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill still can’t predict what the summer of 2022 will look like. It could be the busiest wedding season ever, or, pending future variants, it could be our third year of postponed or canceled events.In her West Village garden studio, she spoke of designing clothes women will love no matter what’s happening next June: pretty day dresses and organic cotton separates that can be easily glammed up or toned down. A puffed-sleeve heart-print midi could be styled with heels for a wedding or with flat sandals, as it’s shown here, for a casual dinner; a paisley slip was similarly versatile, with a warm palette that would transition nicely into fall with a cardigan and boots.The bustier details and full sleeves will be familiar to Markarian fans, but O’Neill hinted at a more streamlined sensibility going forward. A strapless gown in banker-striped cotton was refreshingly free of ruffles, flowers, or crystals, and even the most “extra” dress—an iridescent sequined number—was cut in a spare, no-frills tank shape. The women who save up for it may be crossing their fingers for 2022 parties, but they’ll be happy to know it won’t look dated or overly trendy by 2023 either.
13 December 2021
Alexandra O’Neill never claimed to be a low-key designer. Her first Markarian runway show took place at a decidedly over-the-top location: the Rainbow Room, its sparkling window treatments and chandeliers refracting almost as much light as her crystal-encrusted gowns. After years of attending quiet presentations and appointments in her Jane Street studio, it was an entirely different experience to see a hundred or so women react to her glittering clothes all at once. After 18 months of sweats and grainy Zoom shows, this was the fantastical, no-holds-barred fashion many of them were craving.O’Neill has dabbled in daywear and more casual garments in the past, particularly in 2020, but now, she’s homing in on what she does best: sparkly, flowery, bow-adorned evening wear that celebrates a hyper-specific vision of femininity. The show opened with two Barbie pink beaded dresses followed by all manner of shimmery brocade gowns, nipped corset dresses, minis with exaggerated trains, and a few jacket and bloomer sets that may have narrower appeal. Many of the silhouettes felt familiar—O’Neill’s bustier frock is a consistent best-seller—but the curvy boleros were a fresh departure. “You could even wear them with jeans,” she said after the show. (O’Neill took her bow in a similarly high-low mix of denim and a silk evening coat.) For women who balk at the razor-sharp tailoring of Markarian’s dresses, a glittery jacket might be the ideal alternative.The audience’s giddy response to the show was at odds with Fashion Week’s most pervasive narrative: that women want comfort, ease, and timelessness from their post-pandemic fashion. Markarian’s luminous cocktail dresses are happily none of those things. “Timeless” means something different to everyone, though, and a long-term investment piece can still be extra—or in Markarian’s case,reallyextra. Surely there are tons of girls out there saving up for one of her glitzy dresses, with plans to wear them to every one of their friends’ weddings in 2022.
10 September 2021
On January 20, Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill experienced the kind of zero-to-60 ascent most young designers only fantasize about. For Inauguration Day, Dr. Jill Biden wore Markarian from head to toe: a custom cerulean tweed dress and matching coat trimmed with pearls and velvet cuffs. On a Zoom call, O’Neill said her social media following doubled instantly, and the e-tailer Moda Operandi reported a 570 percent spike in traffic to Markarian pieces within 24 hours. Overnight the label went from relative obscurity to international news. It was a reminder of how deeply women care about what first ladies wear—and how influential their choices can be. Michelle Obama boosted the profile of many young American designers in her day, while the most recent first lady focused almost exclusively on European luxury houses.O’Neill was approached by Biden’s team in December, meaning she had already designed her fall 2021 collection and was given just a month to turn around a look worthy of a historic inauguration—NBD. Anyone expecting a fall lineup of Dr. Biden–esque coats or a deep political statement will be surprised to hear that O’Neill’s inspiration—one she conceptualized months before the election—was actually ancient Rome. She studied Roman art and mythology in college, and the relaxed glamour of the period—draped tunics, twisting braids, lots of gold jewelry—felt newly relevant in a year of lockdowns. Markarian isn’t a casual brand—there are a few full-blown wedding dresses in this collection and several dresses with trains—so O’Neill’s challenge of late has been creating elegant clothes you can wear out or at home. A brocade robe dress met the criteria, as did a long-sleeve style with a burnout velvet motif of shimmering grapes (a cheeky reference to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine). O’Neill’s recycled cashmere knits were happily unbasic: One sweater had an attached shawl to toss over your shoulder, and a cherry red knit midi-dress—ideal for at-home entertaining—came in sweet pointelle stitch.Yet many of O’Neill’s customers will be more excited by the pieces that read fantastical not practical. An LBD with “firework” crystal embellishments; a micro-mini in glittery cobalt; those aforementioned wedding gowns. Perhaps these clients are feeling optimistic about fall 2021 and early 2022 events, or they’re simply unwilling to spend another cent on leggings.
Markarian’s post-inauguration experience all but confirmed that women aren’t just shopping for loungewear anymore; the two most popular dresses on Moda were of the fancy, cocktail variety, with full skirts and built-in corsets. Those who missed out on them will find the same silhouettes here, reworked in a pastel brocade and ivory lace–appliquéd satin.
14 February 2021
Alexandra O’Neill’s new Markarian look book opens with a wedding dress. If that seems out of step with our current reality, zoom in and you’ll notice the gown seems to be wrinkled, as if it’s been gently crushed into a suitcase for a last-minute ceremony. O’Neill has been getting steady requests from brides this year, many of whom scrapped their big weddings in favor of smaller, more casual ceremonies. They needed more low-key dresses to match, and that trend may continue through to next spring. Some may skip a dress altogether; O’Neill’s new belted ivory jacket with big, puffed-up shoulders would be a more modern choice, and has the benefit of being something you could rewear.Those statement sleeves revealed O’Neill’s loose inspiration: For the second season in a row she riffed on the ’80s. But where fall was high on sparkle, juicy colors, and animal prints—i.e., clothes to party in—spring has a softer touch, influenced by O’Neill’s own family memories and photos of her mother from the decade. An embroidered short-sleeve midi-dress with a slit at the waist looked sweet, not sultry; it looked like something you’d actually find in your mom’s (or grandma’s) closet. Elsewhere, O’Neill experimented with flashier nods to the era, embroidering circular mirrors on a column dress, a mini, and a jacket. It’s an eye-catching detail that might surprise the women who come to her for vintage-y brocades and florals. In the end, though, this wasn’t an overly referential collection, and spoke more to the enduring appeal of a great dress—whether it’s floral, ’80s-inspired, or classic black. Despite the gloomy headlines, her customers are betting there will be a reason to wear one soon enough.
2 October 2020
Alexandra O’Neill described her new Markarian collection as part turn-of-the-century fauvism, part 1980s excess: The palette of her taffeta dresses and crystal-trimmed gowns could have been lifted from a Matisse painting, while the big sleeves and sparkle were straight out ofPretty in Pink. But to the Markarian girl—and most young women paying attention to fashion—those details will hardly feel referential. Statement sleeves have been trending for years, and in the age of Instagram, a flashy party dress is practically a wardrobe staple. O’Neill’s customers line their closets with them, ready for invites to friends’ weddings, holiday parties, and uptown soirées.For fall, O’Neill is hoping to dress those women during daylight hours too. She greatly expanded her knitwear, from jewel-button cardigans to a fuzzy ivory sweaterdress cinched with a chain belt. Another chunky black knit came with flared sleeves and a subtle Mandarin collar, the kind of not-boring basic you’d reach for again and again. Styled with a metallic-gold mini and chain belt, it also offered a different kind of “going out” look for the girl who can’t abide a full-skirted frock. O’Neill experimented with pajama separates and metallic leather pants too, but should continue to hone in on her tailoring vocabulary. In the meantime, her dress-inclined fans will be excited about the black halter number with an extra-long sash and a new fuchsia ruffled sheath.
10 February 2020
Alexandra O’Neill isn’t in the basics business. Her label, Markarian, is rooted in the belief that clothes should be fun, fantastical, and unabashedly feminine, regardless of where the fashion winds are blowing. You’ll never find an oversize blazer or by-the-book white shirt in her collections, nor do her customers want that from her. They want her major puffed sleeves, iridescent sequins, and romantic florals. They relish the opportunity to dress up for a wedding or party and aren’t afraid to throw in a sparkly earring or shoe either. Even if that isn’t your vibe, it’s easy to appreciate O’Neill’s narrow focus. She isn’t trying to be everything to everyone; the women who do subscribe to her effervescent, retro-tinged vision are super loyal.All of that said, she pivoted slightly for pre-fall with the introduction of two new, less-frilly categories: tailoring and “glam jams,” or sequined pajama separates. They might attract a dress-averse shopper, but at the very least they’ll be a sleeker daytime option for the Markarian maximalist. A bubblegum pink crepe blazer with jewel buttons and a crystal-trimmed cutout around the waist was O’Neill’s version of a throw-on-with-everything blazer; it would dress up a pair of jeans nicely. The same was true of the beige mutton-sleeve peplum jacket, though it looked pretty fabulous with matching trousers. O’Neill said she’s making it in black per a retailer’s request, but even that commercial piece will still be far from basic.There are dozens of black blazers hanging in any given department store. The market doesn’t need a two-button black suit from Markarian; her sweet spot for tailoring and daywear is in items that are wearable and vaguely classic, but with special, statement-y touches, like crystal buttons or puffed sleeves. It isn’t far off from her formula for cocktail and wedding dresses, which tend to begin with a simple silhouette—a corset dress, an empire-waist gown, a floor-length slip—upon which expressive flourishes are layered. On that note, the collection’s standouts included the opening look, a ’30s-ish beaded midi dress with feathery buttercup sleeves and a bias-cut ivory gown from the small bridal section.
13 December 2019
Wherever fashion goes next—minimalism, maximalism, ’60s, ’80s—there are a few things that won’t change, and one is that women will always, incontrovertibly need a great dress to wear to a wedding. In fact, the “wedding guest” market feels more crowded than ever, with weddings getting bigger, less traditional, and more Instagram-able. (Plus, in our increasingly casual day-to-day lives, most women jump at the chance to trade their jeans and leggings for something truly special.) It’s all created room for a new kind of dressmaker like Alexandra O’Neill. Her two-year-old label Markarian is comprised almost entirely of pretty, unstuffy dresses for weddings—and galas, benefits, and any other high-society soireés her clients are attending.The ultrafeminine, flowery dresses she’s become known for have been “back” for a few years now, but what sets hers apart is arguably the experience of buying one. In addition to selling her collection to retailers, O’Neill takes private meetings in her tiny Jane Street studio and offers bespoke services, tweaking the length of a dress or creating an entirely new, one-of-a-kind design. That sort of old-school service has drawn lots of brides to Markarian too, so Spring 2020 included several wedding options. (In the past, she separated her ready-to-wear and bridal collections.) A frothy off-the-shoulder ivory gown with puffed sleeves felt distinctly “Markarian” with its romantic, vintage sensibility, while an ivory strapless column will speak to the woman looking for something simple, but not severe. O’Neill also introduced new options for a bride’s after-party dress, like a creamy satin mini with jeweled straps; more and more women are coming to Markarian for those “additional” wedding looks, from the reception to the rehearsal dinner.For women who don’t have weddings on the brain, Markarian’s signature bustier gowns and ruffled midi-dresses in sumptuous brocades and printed silks will stand out more. (They also make great bridesmaid options!) This collection was largely inspired by its lookbook setting: an Italian villa O’Neill had visited in the past. The wallpaper florals, warm palette, and elegant old-world silhouettes look perfectly at home in the opulent rooms, but it was more compelling to see them photographed outside in the grass or with the Tuscan sunset casting shadows across the silk. Those moments captured the contrast O’Neill is aiming for: unabashed femininity, but with an unfussy, modern spirit.
18 September 2019