Nicholas K (Q3500)
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Nicholas K is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Nicholas K |
Nicholas K is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Speaking from her Catskills home, designer Nicholas Kunz explained that this was the first time in her career that she designed a collection “in nature.” She spent the greater part of the pandemic upstate, working remotely on a spring 2021 lineup partly inspired by the 1969 filmEasy Rider.Like many of us, the designer began her quarantine by binge-watching old movies on Netflix, including the Dennis Hopper motorcycle classic. The movie got her thinking about the idea of the great American road trip and its return to popularity amid widespread air travel restrictions in the U.S. Kunz translated road trip vibes into slouchy, cropped fringe jackets and leather detailing on fluid, draped dresses. Ombré tunics and skirts felt a little more sci-fi than Southwest, but Kunz did a nice job at interpreting theEasy Riderlook for the eclectic Nicholas K customer.The most inspiring elements of Kunz’s spring collection were the tops and capes with built-in masks. The designer believes that mask wearing is the new norm and will be for the foreseeable future, and she wanted to give people a new way to wear the protective items by actually attaching them to clothes. Why hasn’t anyone else thought of that?
21 September 2020
Nicholas K is a popular brand with the wellness set. Designers Nicholas and Christopher Kunz say that a big chunk of their loyal clientele is made up of meditation gurus, yoga instructors, and spiritual healers. It makes sense when you think about it: They are avant-garde in a way that isn’t dark or standoffish. Their clothes are comfortable, drapey, and usually inspired by the siblings’ travel, which means they have a sort of nomadic, hippyish vibe.While globetrotting has informed the direction of the label over the last few seasons, Nicholas and Christopher went back to some of their greatest hits for fall. Rather than starting with a certain point on the world map, the pair referenced best-selling items from past collections, including their plaid maxi shirtdresses, jersey drop-crotch pants, and billowy tent tops.The clothes are meant to be styled and worn many different ways, whether wrapped around the waist or layered together in a throw-it-on-and-go kind of way. It’s all very effortless, even the cool dip-dyed wraps and the three-in-one modular jackets that can be long or short or turned into a vest, depending. The Kunzes have successfully crafted their own language around effortless luxury. It would be interesting to see what they’d do with more evening-appropriate fabrics and silhouettes down the line. The gurus and shamans and yogis will always be there to support Nicholas K; now the question for the brand is how to evolve into its next phase and attract new customers.
13 February 2020
Sister-and-brother duo Nicholas and Christopher Kunz have become more accustomed to taking inspiration trips lately. They understand the importance of getting out and seeing the world, and that, even with a design sensibility that is minimal at its core, they often work best in a completely foreign, surprising setting. Whereas last season was focused on their own sustainable garden shed in upstate New York, Spring 2020 took cues from Spain. They showed their line, Nicholas K, during Barcelona Fashion Week in June, early enough so that they had time to really tweak and perfect the collection. While in Barcelona, they showed the clothes on a runway that ran through an old hospital once run by nuns in the 1900s. The new lineup is monastic—beautiful long flowing silhouettes, with ultra-baggy cotton trousers, hand-dyed tunics, wrap tops, and draped, billowy dresses and jumpsuits.While in Spain, they happened upon an older, nomadic artist couple living and working in a convent in Malta. Introduced by mutual friends, the Kunzes saw images of the rustic, stone-walled space and knew almost immediately that they needed to visit and bring their new collection to be photographed there, in sticking with the nun-ish theme that gave them so much creative drive in Barcelona. The backdrop couldn’t have been more perfect for their clothes, which are in part made sustainably (this is a huge driver for the label right now). As they move the brand forward, the Kunzes should indeed continue their design journeys and find more off-the-beaten-path places to showcase Nicholas K. It’s a unique label deserving of unique scenery and architecture outside the walls of New York Fashion Week.
12 September 2019
Nicholas and Christopher Kunz retreated to upstate New York, where they had recently completed work on an “upcycled shed,” powered by solar panels and built entirely from recycled wood and discarded glass. This architectural undertaking was both a labor of love and a prime example of the brother-sister duo’s work ethos. “Creating a world reflective of the things you love,” Christopher explained at a studio appointment.Of late, the shed had become Nicholas’s art studio, and the watershed series of abstract paintings she created there made their way onto Fall’s clothes. “We took those abstract forms and translated them from canvas to clothes,” she said. “We wanted to create clothes that looked one way but were convertible or transitional to different forms.” Convertibility, utility, and sustainability are the core pillars of Nicholas K; the last has only grown more important with each passing season, as their sustainable shed also suggests.There were pant-skirt hybrids and nifty knee-length sweaters that could literally be flipped upside down and worn as a shorter shawl knit. By far, the alpaca-wool pieces were the star of the show. The Kunzes source the sustainable, nontoxic fibers from Peruvian ranchers; they are completely free of dye. Hard to believe, given the incredible richness of a caramel-color maxi dress, the depth of a charcoal wool top. Sometimes, Mother Nature does it best.
15 February 2019
It was exactly one year ago that Nicholas and Christopher Kunz endured what amounts to a designer’s worst nightmare: A fire engulfed their showroom-studio, destroying half their archive. Yet, as the brother-and-sister duo reflected today, much good has come of that tragedy. Yet, as the brother and sister duo reflected today, much good has come of that tragedy. Chiefly, there’s a beautiful new flagship store on Broome Street, filled with leafy potted plants and two white-curtained dressing rooms (the curtains were cut and sewn from World War II parachutes).The Kunzes hoped to celebrate this triumph—the store in particular—and the Spring collection came through their examination of what archival pieces they had left to salvage. “We saw what our roots were and what defined us as a brand,” Nicholas said. That meant a great deal of easy-to-wear, utilitarian, and, more often than not, convertible pieces. An olive green cargo pant that zips off into shorts or a floor-skimming white dress with a zipper across the front (when unzipped, it becomes a mullet shirt of sorts with a trailing train). Bombers become vests; shirtsleeves twist to and fro, allowing countless styling possibilities.Though much of the collection was pulled from the archives, the Kunzes made sure to rework everything, especially given their newfound focus on sustainable fabrics. There was a soft gradient ikat, handmade on a loom by artisans in India, and lots of lovely Tencels and linens in shades of pale bluish green (one fluid pink dress that hung long and loose on the body stood out from the pack). It’s good to see designers focus on sustainability without sacrificing their original spirit.As a final note, it’s worth calling out the narrative trio of prints: a bold brushstroke called Chaos, that soft ikat named Fade Out, and an even softer speckled marbling called Regeneration, used on a diaphanous gray silk dress. “It looks kind of like an amoebae,” Christopher said, laughing. “Like rebirth.”
6 September 2018
Nicholas and Christopher Kunz are uniquely committed to sustainability, and their dedication to sourcing organic materials lead them last year to Peru. What began as a scouting trip turned into the foundation of their entire Fall 2018 collection, which centered on the alpaca herds that live in the highlands. Their wool has become a key element in the brother-sister duo’s design work—more specifically, the alpacas with brown and black coats that the industry has neglected for so long in favor of white wool that can be more easily dyed. “But there’s such a depth and richness to the natural undyed alpaca, even bits of gray in the black,” Nicholas explained, “and you can create so many browns by twisting the fibers.”Their lookbook is a visual love story to Peru that begins in the ruins of Machu Picchu and then winds through salt mines and hot springs until the models find themselves in the sweeping highlands where the alpacas graze on volcanic grass. The clothes were loosely inspired by Morochucos, or Andean cowboys, but the Kunzes also felt a resonance with Alejandro Jodorowsky’sThe Holy Mountain, a Surrealist ’70s film whose influence can be seen in the tall peaked hats.There were some nice shirtdresses that buttoned and snapped up the front in different ways, plus good organic silks. But the alpaca was the star of the show, worked into a series of wonderfully soft, very wearable sweaters, easy pants, and Morochucan ponchos. When knitted into a “bouclé,” it provided a nice bit of texture in addition to the lovely blend of natural brown colors. Christopher shared that the black and brown alpacas are slowly recovering their numbers, but Peruvian ranchers were only willing to foster those herds if there were designers committed to using their wool. Looks like they’ve found a match.
16 February 2018
Nicholas and Christopher Kunz have had a hell of a time going into Spring. Unfortunately, leading up to New York Fashion Week, a fire destroyed their design studio and showroom—around half of their archives were lost. That’s heartbreaking, and tough to reconcile.However, their collection survived, and the brother-sister duo seemed in optimistic spirits as they showed it today. Perhaps this was because they were, ironically and as a blessing, taking a break from holding a runway show and instead debuting their collection over Instagram with a lookbook shot at Azulik, a sustainable-luxury hotel in Tulum, Mexico. Nicholas K is moving further and further into green territory; the setting of the brand’s imagery synced well with the product, and, despite its smoky start, the presentation ended up feeling like a breath of fresh air.A butterfly-zebra trench, printed and washed with a camo overlay, was eco-cool and somehow understated despite its graphic punch. Puckered organic cotton or sand-washed silk pieces, including a bodysuit, were summery and breezy, as were ikat-motif caftans that had been hand-treated by artisans. Throughout, there was a looseness and resultant low-key confidence that suggested a trip to the Yucatan or somewhere just as barefoot chic. This new, or rather heightened, direction suited Nicholas and Christopher well. There are silver—or, let’s say, golden, given their beachside staging—linings to everything.
12 September 2017
It seemed fitting that Nicholas K’s Nicholas and Christopher Kunz stormed into New York Fashion Week this morning—they traditionally open the event. Outside, nature was unleashing its fury, and inside, the duo mirrored the extremity.Preshow, DJ Rob Swift filled the room with earsplitting ’90s hip-hop beats (the genre would influence the collection). Then, at first look, a model wearing a Black Panthers–nodding beret, a gold metallic trenchcoat, and matching culottes swept down the catwalk. The impression was the most strong-armed and assertive that the Kunzes have delivered in recent memory—a sign, like we’ve seen with so many others, of defensiveness and reaction to the current political climate. And, undertones aside, it also looked pretty damn cool.“It’s kind of that glam street look—everything you loved about the ’90s but brought forward to today,” said Nicholas. Christopher would then cite the emergence of the Internet and the promise it held for a stronger global community. “Where we are now . . . we wanted to revisit the optimism, because we’ve gone back,” he said.Despite the bristle, Nicholas and Christopher didn’t forget their signature languid lean; it could be seen in leather wrapped dresses, long fireman coats with shearling lining, crushed velvet jackets, and flowing cutaway dresses. The thought evoked as the siblings (and their new mascot, an adopted boxer mix named Barbosa) took their bow? Power to the Nicholas K people.
9 February 2017
“We looked at this movie calledTheeb,” said Nicholas K’s Nicholas Kunz. “It takes place in the Wadi Rum region of Jordan—there’s this incredible color palette, nudes to desert sage.” “Have you seenThe Martian?” her brother Christopher, who co-runs the label with Nicholas, then asked. “That’s where it was filmed.”Otherworldly oases and a Bedouin aesthetic would subsequently fuel the duo’s design process for Spring. The collection made use of some superb alpaca treatments—including an alpaca-linen blend, which was draped and layered thickly, though in actuality it was featherlight and breathable. It looked particularly good when cut into a pair of tapered jogger pants. An early outfit, too, boasted alpaca silk in sunset gold in a wrapped, loose, float-away dress. It was strong.Generally, the silhouette was loose and airy, wrapped and knotted—very nomadic, though the styling impression was clean. “We have more gowns than usual,” said Nicholas, noting a slightly more elegant lean compared to their generally urbane approach. (The show might have benefited from an edit, however—half the looks could have been shown and we’d have gotten the message.)Another noteworthy point at Nicholas K is the pair’s shift into a sustainable mind-set, now that they’re finalists in the CFDA/Lexus Eco-Fashion Challenge—a 17-month program that concludes in 2017. Their leathers—used on drape-collared trenchcoats, “belt bags,” and wide-brimmed hats—are vegetable dyed. “The color is rich but uneven,” said Nicholas. Ikat fabrics were handmade by artisans in India. And the fantastic, organically sculptural jewelry—a collaboration with Lisa Linhardt—was made of reclaimed metals. A disclike anklet, of all things, stood out prominently. It looked just like a hybrid of desert chic meets Martian mod.
8 September 2016
Each season, sister-and-brother design duo Nicholas and Christopher Kunz present their very own particular brand of urban nomadism. For Fall 2016, it was much of the same but with even more of a desert bent—Burning Man for New York City.Looks were styled with leather bandanas, slip-on Moroccan-esque mules, and many came equipped with buckles, straps, and futuristic-looking leather knuckle and arm guards. The garments gave theimpressionof utility, if not the actuality of it: Slouchy drop-crotch pants were fastened with a multitude of buckles at the ankles, there were a number of military-inspired belts with zippered pockets, and oftentimes coats hung askew from the body via a diagonal strap. It was often difficult, even at second glance, to discern how all the layers fitted together: A silky slip was styled with a matching robe—or was it a sash affixed at the shoulder? The long gowns definitely had sashes draped and tied at the waist. A recurring—and welcome—theme was the button-up shirt, which appeared every which way except for how it is normally intended: Here, it was worn as a skirt with the arms tied at the front, or providing the body of a dress with the sleeves tied at the back.Most looks were monochromatic and stuck to black, gray, sand, and a dark purple the brand calls “nightshade”; at times the colors felt drab, particularly the dark browns, which veered a little into desert rat territory.But after all, apparently, the Kunzs were inspired by Arcosanti, a desert community begun by Frank Lloyd Wright disciple Paolo Soleri in the ’70s. “When I saw it for the first time, what struck me is how modern it still feels, even though it was built in the ’70s,” said Nicholas. “It’s nomadic, futuristic, and most important, it’s sustainable.” A natural fit, in other words, for the brand, which also happens to be a finalist in the CFDA + Lexus Fashion Initiative.
11 February 2016
Spring’s fodder may be new territory forNicholas K, but suffice it to say, it’s in the brand’s DNA. For their latest outing, dubbed Terminal Velocity, the sister-and-brother team ofNicholasandChristopher Kunzlooked at flight suits; after all, their father was a flight surgeon, their brother a Navy SEAL.A tenor of utilitarianism was high from the word go, starting with a cream-colored parachute trench worn by show opener Sarah Abney. Like many of the other items, it came with a cross-body rope clasped with a tough-looking carabiner. The light, glossy nylon the designers used billowed like silk, and while it may have been an exploratory move, they ran with it, whipping yards of the fabric into maxi dresses, skirts, and ponchos—so much as to blend together at times. With dip-dyed styles, otherworldly-looking silk dresses, and trousers in shades of charcoal and saffron, they had some real winners on their hands. Among the 50 looks, the pair might have done with a few more of the pieces akin to those and their capes in supple periwinkle denim, clothes that nodded to the presence of a human hand. All that nylon felt, in places, a little anonymous, coming up short on covetability—though their gorgeous drop-waist jumpsuit in distressed leather surely did not.
10 September 2015
The front row at Nicholas K always includes at least a few friends who embody the urban-nomad look designers Nicholas and Christopher Kunz nail season after season. The crowd wears it well, to be sure. But how many draped, asymmetrical hoodies can one really own?For Fall, the brother-and-sister designers moved their aesthetic beyond their beloved drop-crotch pants. After watching 1920'sThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nicholas said, she was captivated by the silent horror film's "distorted, abstracted set. It still looks modern even now." From there, she incorporated a "really dark, Gothic element" into the collection, thinking about the Victorian era and steampunk. There were floor-length gowns in dip-dyed silk georgette, opera-length leather gloves, and elongated wide-leg trousers worn with elegant scarf tops.Yes, there was something more refined than usual going on here, from the fur-trimmed mullet sweater to the calf-length duvet coat trimmed in shearling. Even the more expected pieces felt elevated. For instance, cargo pockets on a zip-up sweater were made of fur, and the shearling collar of a hip-length leather aviator jacket was oversized for a luxe effect. While the old favorites were still in play—such as loose knit bottoms scrunched up the knee and cowl-neck tops, all endlessly layered—now there's something else to talk about.
12 February 2015
A road trip through Morocco led brother-and-sister design team Christopher and Nicholas Kunz to look up female explorers who had traveled the region. They found Isabelle Eberhardt, the Swiss explorer who dressed as a man so that she could move freely through turn-of-the-century North Africa. "It was unlike anything we could imagine," said Nicholas of the obstacles Eberhardt faced.To translate ideas of protection and power into clothes for a modern explorer, the Kunzes stuck with what they know well: wares for the urban warrior. There were leather shawls, scrunched-up cargo pants, harnesses and knee guards. In a novel turn, a little black dress was adorned with an armor of Pilot pens. Khaki chino is emerging as an early NYFW trend, and the Kunzes used it successfully, although predictably, on a utility jacket and knee-length shorts. Casio G-Shock watches were done with camouflage bands, which complemented the lightweight cotton pieces rendered in a similar print. Lace-up heels, created in partnership with Korean designer Kiyoon Baek, added a sharp sexiness. And jewelry designer Victoria Simes' horsehair accessories emphasized the nomadic, almost wild, look. The Kunz aesthetic is very specific and consistent, but for Spring, the designers shook things up a little by adding a level of polish to the collection through impressive draping: Loosely wrapped silk tops and side-tie skirts could easily become wardrobe staples.
4 September 2014
For Fall, brother-sister design team Nicholas and Christopher Kunz started with French photographer Jean Gaumy's bookMen at Sea, a moody, captivating look at the life of commercial fishermen. "It's kind of likeDeadliest Catch," Christopher half-joked. It's a fitting reference, given that so much of the designers' work has a braving-the-elements quality to it.That was even truer than usual this season. Each ensemble was styled with a pair of Honeywell boots, as ideal for padding around a boat as clomping around New York in current conditions. (This particular fashion week's forecast is snow, a little rain, and more snow.) The footwear naturally complemented the artfully bunched sweatpants, chunky cardigans, and bracelets fashioned out of nautical rope, all done in a natural palette of slate gray, black, brown, burgundy, and navy, with a few hits of cream.Save for the one-shoulder knit crop tops, a few billowing tunic dresses, and a silk jumpsuit in an abstract print called Laguna, the men's and women's pieces were fairly interchangeable and played to that urban-warrior style the label has nearly perfected. It can be repetitive season upon season, but that doesn't mean it's not good. The newness was in the denim, of which there was quite a bit. "We wanted to do it in our own way," Nicholas said. To her point, the pieces were lightweight and fashioned into silhouettes not typically made out of denim, including drawstring trousers and a men's blazer with sleeves loosely rolled to the elbow. Nicholas K's look may be constant, but it's never rigid.
5 February 2014
Sister-and-brother design team Nicholas and Christopher Kunz grew up in Tucson, Arizona, near an Apache reservation where they spent time as children, fishing and just being outdoors. Christopher still visits two or three times each year, and this Spring shamanism is a main source of inspiration for the duo. "We started with a smudging fan, which is used by the shaman to ward off evil sprits," Nicholas explained.Native American themes can go politically incorrect fast, but the Kunzes' closeness to the subject kept it in check. There was a focus on draping and proportion, which played out perfectly in a women's cropped leather jacket in a color they're calling "Earth," which looked like warm-brown mud. Paired with a geo-pattern top, shorts (slightly sparkly, thanks to the "mica"-colored yarn woven through the garments), and a washed-out sweater, it delivered the ease for which the label is known. The men's looks were similarly drapey, but with a bit more of a utilitarian bent: below-the-knee black shorts looked almost like rugby pants with their oversize pockets, and loose knits were given structure when layered over collared shirts.The collection's defining look was a long white dress with bias-cut layers that rendered it one step above a beautiful nightgown. Would a shaman wear it? Hardly. But his followers might.
4 September 2013
Consistency is a virtue. It's also the hobgoblin of little minds, as Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out. Nicholas K designer Nicholas Kunz is no little mind, and the consistency of her label is mostly a virtue. But as fashion seasons pass, it has become increasingly clear that Kunz has painted herself into a bit of a corner. This collection was a case in point: As usual, Kunz found endless ways to re-finesse the details of her signature pieces, in particular her always excellent parkas and anoraks, but stopped short of offering any really new silhouettes or evolving the vocabulary of her urban nomad aesthetic much at all.That's not to say there was no development here. Kunz has a talent for finding rich sources of inspiration, and this season that was particularly true; her latest muse was Danish explorer and cartographer Peter Freuchen, who mapped the Arctic at the start of the twentieth century and married an Inuit woman along the way. There was a definite Eskimo vibe to her rich shearlings for both sexes, and in the women's collection, her seawater-colored dresses, with their roiling, wavelike drapes, felt genuinely fresh. The fact that these dresses were shown essentially unadorned attested to their strength. There were other strong looks, meanwhile, that deserved a similarly simple presentation, notably the belted, Brooklyn boho-esque silk jumpsuits and dresses.The men's collection was less newsworthy. There was a bit more tailored outerwear than usual, all of it handsome, and a lot more use of leather; Kunz also proffered some fine small ideas, like the backpack straps sewn into parkas and sweaters. (The straps were seen in the womenswear as well.) But overall it was hard to detect much newness, and the multilayered styling of most looks was cluttered and overwhelming. Kunz has a singular menswear point of view, which is very much to her credit, but you can't help but feel it ought to encompass more than it does—different kinds of fabrications, say. A little bold experimentation would go a long way. She should take a cue from her nomadic muses and get out of her comfort zone more often.
6 February 2013
Nicholas K likes to play to its strengths. That said, the past few seasons have seen designer Nicholas Kunz taking tentative steps toward expanding the vocabulary of her brand. The results have sometimes been mixed, but this time out, Kunz uncorked a winner. Her belted silk-satin trousers for women, with their blouson folded leg, really helped to refresh the Nicholas K womenswear silhouette and elevate the tone of the collection as a whole. They should find the brand some new fans. Elsewhere in the women's collection, Kunz largely reiterated her recurring themes—lots of draping, and lots of experimentation with parkas and anoraks. (Is an anorak still an anorak when it has a poncho-like draped knit body? Comments welcome from any philosophy majors reading this.) The collection's seventies inflection was a debt toSoylent Green,Kunz explained after the show, while the colors here were extrapolated from Lyonel Feininger.Kunz's menswear stuck to its guns. This was fairly standard fare for the Nicholas K man; the big news was the application of pockets inspired by vintage pigeon-hunting jackets, and color-blocking that served as a nice development for Kunz's signature desert palette. The one real surprise was the solitary men's sweater, hand-knit out of linen and boasting nautical cream-and-faded-blue cables and stripes. The sweater didn't quite work, but the idea seemed worthy of further exploration. Maybe its presence in the show is proof, in fact, that Kunz is now ready to extend her cautious experimentation to menswear.
5 September 2012
With Georgia O'Keeffe on her mind this time around, designer Nicholas Kunz painted a promising picture of Nicholas K's evolution. While keeping her line's cool, utilitarian signatures—a desert palette, outerwear focus, draped knits and jerseys, heavy layering—on display, Kunz pushed her men's and women's clothes in a more geometric direction, and went some distance toward elevating the tone of the 9-year-old brand.Kunz's inspiration for the season was the Taos artists of the twenties and thirties, and it proved to be a smart one. It related easily to Nicholas K's desert fixation, and it hewed the collections, slightly, to the larger Depression-era narrative shaping up for Fall. Kunz has sometimes found it a challenge to integrate current trends, but the Taos theme allowed her to add to her brand's vocabulary, pulling in both western and Deco references. One of Kunz's most interesting ideas was to tie the two together through the use of fringe; the western part of that worked, resulting in easy, fringed dresses with crochet detailing and sharply cut leather jackets jangling with fringe. The more evening-oriented beaded, flapper-ish stuff, meanwhile, felt a little forced. Kunz had more success with her lightly printed silks, iterated as clean and sexy bias-cut dresses and tops.The menswear collection made its own move into more formal territory, notably with the inclusion of soft, oatmeal-colored suiting pieces. (In general, the tailoring for both men and women looked good and relevant—more of that, please.) Kunz also nicely worked the western theme into the men's clothes, especially with her application of horsehair to jackets and parkas.A last word re: parkas. At a time when many fashion houses have gone parka-crazy, it bears mentioning that Nicholas K has been turning out excellent versions of the hooded jacket for a while now, and there were more expert examples on the runway this morning. Together with Kunz's razored leather jackets, the parkas proved that outerwear is this brand's enduring strength.
8 February 2012
With Georgia O'Keeffe on her mind this time around, designer Nicholas Kunz painted a promising picture of Nicholas K's evolution. While keeping her line's cool, utilitarian signatures—a desert palette, outerwear focus, draped knits and jerseys, heavy layering—on display, Kunz pushed her men's and women's clothes in a more geometric direction, and went some distance toward elevating the tone of the 9-year-old brand.Kunz's inspiration for the season was the Taos artists of the twenties and thirties, and it proved to be a smart one. It related easily to Nicholas K's desert fixation, and it hewed the collections, slightly, to the larger Depression-era narrative shaping up for Fall. Kunz has sometimes found it a challenge to integrate current trends, but the Taos theme allowed her to add to her brand's vocabulary, pulling in both western and Deco references. One of Kunz's most interesting ideas was to tie the two together through the use of fringe; the western part of that worked, resulting in easy, fringed dresses with crochet detailing and sharply cut leather jackets jangling with fringe. The more evening-oriented beaded, flapper-ish stuff, meanwhile, felt a little forced. Kunz had more success with her lightly printed silks, iterated as clean and sexy bias-cut dresses and tops.The menswear collection made its own move into more formal territory, notably with the inclusion of soft, oatmeal-colored suiting pieces. (In general, the tailoring for both men and women looked good and relevant—more of that, please.) Kunz also nicely worked the western theme into the men's clothes, especially with her application of horsehair to jackets and parkas.A last word re: parkas. At a time when many fashion houses have gone parka-crazy, it bears mentioning that Nicholas K has been turning out excellent versions of the hooded jacket for a while now, and there were more expert examples on the runway this morning. Together with Kunz's razored leather jackets, the parkas proved that outerwear is this brand's enduring strength.
8 February 2012
Nicholas K designer Nicholas Kunz likes to layer. Hers is a tectonic approach to dressing, one that expresses a loose, appealing energy when it works but comes off heavy, chaotic, and over-considered when it doesn't. Today, as is usual at Nicholas K shows, there was a desire to see more of the pieces clean, in order to assess how they do when they stand alone. That said, it's to Kunz's credit that for all the layers, her new collection had a winning lightness.The show kicked off with looks for men and women in tonal whites, and it made for a strong start. For women, the opening asymmetric jacket in lightweight, foil-printed suede was a definite winner, and the loose draped and tiered bias-cut dresses felt timely and struck a pleasing, ethereal-yet-earthy tone. (If Daisy Buchanan ever went camping, that's what she'd have worn.) As the exits continued, the tones darkened, moving into sand-colored clothing, then lodens and grays, and finally into black.Throughout, Kunz layered looks over cropped mesh leggings—a nice idea—and sent out various lightweight iterations of the trenchcoats and anoraks that are a staple of her brand. She also showed long suede shorts that had a strong, masculine look, and made good use of print, creating several patterns abstracted from photographs of jellyfish and landscapes. For men, Kunz played to her strengths this season, which made for a collection that had lots of retail appeal, but not much in the way of news. One excellent idea, executed in a variety of materials but done best in a crisp cotton poplin, was a kind of cropped track pant, slouchy with an elasticized cuff.
7 September 2011
Nicholas K designer Nicholas Kunz likes to layer. Hers is a tectonic approach to dressing, one that expresses a loose, appealing energy when it works but comes off heavy, chaotic, and over-considered when it doesn't. Today, as is usual at Nicholas K shows, there was a desire to see more of the pieces clean, in order to assess how they do when they stand alone. That said, it's to Kunz's credit that for all the layers, her new collection had a winning lightness.The show kicked off with looks for men and women in tonal whites, and it made for a strong start. For women, the opening asymmetric jacket in lightweight, foil-printed suede was a definite winner, and the loose draped and tiered bias-cut dresses felt timely and struck a pleasing, ethereal-yet-earthy tone. (If Daisy Buchanan ever went camping, that's what she'd have worn.) As the exits continued, the tones darkened, moving into sand-colored clothing, then lodens and grays, and finally into black.Throughout, Kunz layered looks over cropped mesh leggings—a nice idea—and sent out various lightweight iterations of the trenchcoats and anoraks that are a staple of her brand. She also showed long suede shorts that had a strong, masculine look, and made good use of print, creating several patterns abstracted from photographs of jellyfish and landscapes. For men, Kunz played to her strengths this season, which made for a collection that had lots of retail appeal, but not much in the way of news. One excellent idea, executed in a variety of materials but done best in a crisp cotton poplin, was a kind of cropped track pant, slouchy with an elasticized cuff.
7 September 2011
Nicholas K designer Nicholas Kunz found inspiration close to home this season—specifically, it was her recently purchased upstate getaway that did the inspiring. As references go, upstate is a comfortable fit for a brand that has always trafficked in easy-feeling, rugged street wear, and Kunz didn't stretch herself much to accommodate it, mostly limiting the news in the men's and women's clothes she showed today to a nicely judged woodland palette of variegated greens, rusts, and riverine gray-blues. The designer also played around with texture, introducing cozy pieces in black and emerald velvet that looked a little off layered with the rest of the collection's plaids and parkas. (They'll do fine on the sales floor on their own.) A better blend of utilitarian and boho luxe was found in the standout women's outerwear, including a longish black parka and short wrap jacket trimmed with generous heaps of Mongolian lamb fur.There were two garments this season that, respectively, underlined one of Nicholas K's recurring weaknesses, and epitomized the brand's enduring strength. Kunz has a praiseworthy interest in versatility, and a real respect for the way people adapt clothes to their own ends; when she's on, she translates that into pieces such as this collection's cabled hand knits for men and women, which transformed the workhorse Aran into slouchy cardigans, heavy enough to work as jackets, that zipped at a rakish angle. Those pieces are going to be worn and loved for a long time by the people who buy them. On the other end of the spectrum, there were the skirt-shirts—button-downs retrofitted into skirts, which could also be worn as tops. In that case, Kunz used versatility as a contrivance, a "Look, Ma, no hands!" trick. She's better than that: At heart, Kunz is a detail-driven designer who understands that it's the subtleties of proportion and fit and the cleverly functional elements she adds to her clothes that make them special.
9 February 2011
Nicholas K designer Nicholas Kunz found inspiration close to home this season—specifically, it was her recently purchased upstate getaway that did the inspiring. As references go, upstate is a comfortable fit for a brand that has always trafficked in easy-feeling, rugged street wear, and Kunz didn't stretch herself much to accommodate it, mostly limiting the news in the men's and women's clothes she showed today to a nicely judged woodland palette of variegated greens, rusts, and riverine gray-blues. The designer also played around with texture, introducing cozy pieces in black and emerald velvet that looked a little off layered with the rest of the collection's plaids and parkas. (They'll do fine on the sales floor on their own.) A better blend of utilitarian and boho luxe was found in the standout women's outerwear, including a longish black parka and short wrap jacket trimmed with generous heaps of Mongolian lamb fur.There were two garments this season that, respectively, underlined one of Nicholas K's recurring weaknesses, and epitomized the brand's enduring strength. Kunz has a praiseworthy interest in versatility, and a real respect for the way people adapt clothes to their own ends; when she's on, she translates that into pieces such as this collection's cabled hand knits for men and women, which transformed the workhorse Aran into slouchy cardigans, heavy enough to work as jackets, that zipped at a rakish angle. Those pieces are going to be worn and loved for a long time by the people who buy them. On the other end of the spectrum, there were the skirt-shirts—button-downs retrofitted into skirts, which could also be worn as tops. In that case, Kunz used versatility as a contrivance, a "Look, Ma, no hands!" trick. She's better than that: At heart, Kunz is a detail-driven designer who understands that it's the subtleties of proportion and fit and the cleverly functional elements she adds to her clothes that make them special.
9 February 2011
Edward Abbey's novelThe Monkey Wrench Gangwasn't the inspiration for the men's and women's collections shown by Nicholas K today, but it might as well have been. In the book, a MacGyver-esque ex-Green Beret and a lithe New York City bohemian go rogue in the American West, plotting anti-industrial sabotage. Subtract the radical environmentalism, perhaps, and that's pretty much the vibe of the clothes designer Nicholas Kunz dreamed up for her brand this season.In some ways, that's familiar ground: Kunz has taken inspiration from military garb from the start, in particular seizing on all the creative possibilities inherent in the standard-issue Army parka. That's made for some standout outerwear in past seasons, and this Spring was no exception—boys and girls alike got outfitted in super-lightweight parkas, mostly olive drab, variously tweaked with details such as oversize hoods, distended collars, ruched sleeves, lacing up the back. Underneath those coats, the clothes had a general slouch, which helped give the collections their nomadic feel. That was winning in the simpler pieces, such as loose shorts in sand-washed chenille, tapered khakis, and long knit cardigans (all for both men and women), but it sometimes got heavy-handed. A little drape goes a long way.The collections really found their level in looks that mixed the rustic and the urbane. The shirting was generally strong, made out of woven cotton stripes and checks developed in-house and cut in a variety of pleasingly off ways. Leather vests and jackets had a grit that was simultaneously streetwise and outdoorsy. There was also a nice textural quality to the layered ensembles, which—along with the palette of rubble colors cut with rust and end-of-the-horizon mauve—was suggestive of the rich yet hard-bitten landscapes of the Southwest. Edward Abbey would approve.
8 September 2010
Edward Abbey's novelThe Monkey Wrench Gangwasn't the inspiration for the men's and women's collections shown by Nicholas K today, but it might as well have been. In the book, aMacGyver-esque ex-Green Beret and a lithe New York City bohemian go rogue in the American West, plotting anti-industrial sabotage. Subtract the radical environmentalism, perhaps, and that's pretty much the vibe of the clothes designer Nicholas Kunz dreamed up for her brand this season.In some ways, that's familiar ground: Kunz has taken inspiration from military garb from the start, in particular seizing on all the creative possibilities inherent in the standard-issue Army parka. That's made for some standout outerwear in past seasons, and this Spring was no exception—boys and girls alike got outfitted in super-lightweight parkas, mostly olive drab, variously tweaked with details such as oversize hoods, distended collars, ruched sleeves, lacing up the back. Underneath those coats, the clothes had a general slouch, which helped give the collections their nomadic feel. That was winning in the simpler pieces, such as loose shorts in sand-washed chenille, tapered khakis and long, knit cardigans (all for both men and women), but it sometimes got heavy-handed. A little drape goes a long way.The collections really found their level in looks that mixed the rustic and the urbane. The shirting was generally strong, made out of woven cotton stripes and checks developed in-house and cut in a variety of pleasingly off ways. Leather vests and jackets had a grit that was simultaneously streetwise and outdoorsy. There was also a nice textural quality to the layered ensembles, which—along with the palette of rubble colors cut with rust and end-of-the-horizon mauve—was suggestive of the rich yet hard-bitten landscapes of the Southwest. Edward Abbey would approve.
8 September 2010