No Sesso (Q3520)
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No Sesso is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | No Sesso |
No Sesso is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
After making a name for themselves in New York as CFDA/VogueFashion Fund finalists, No Sesso’s Pia Davis and Autumn Randolph took a two-season hiatus from the infinite loop otherwise known as Fashion Week. Spring 2024 marks their return to the runway, in their hometown of Los Angeles. “We just wanted to take time off to really elevate the brand and give our version of luxury fashion,” Davis said.The collection, titled Futuro Fish, explored the impact technology will have on humanity in a not-so-distant sci-fi future and imagined how dressing within “The No Sesso System” will be in that moment. It was presented as a performance art piece with an immersive video background, and the duo’s artist friends as models.The pair evolved the classic body-grazing silhouettes they’re known for, infusing them with practical utility details such as zippers and patch pockets, and attaching the hems of garments to their cylindrical Carry bag. They also explored versatility and convertibility: Jersey dresses and skirts appeared as pants from behind. Playing with the concept of garters and riding chaps, they slashed fabric above the knee and created cutouts to reveal skin at the top of the thigh. Notable looks included an asymmetrical knit polo dress, a cropped leather jacket and matching bermuda shorts, and a corded corset top paired with a strip of a jersey miniskirt that had an extremely long train.Articulating their own take on luxury fashion, a knife-pleat miniskirt was the overlay detail on an oversized tailored wool trouser that puddled at the floor. They doubled down on jersey, leather, and denim, and introduced a metallic nylon, cut into a tailored bustier and shorts set. Their signature patchwork and appliqué details appeared throughout, notably on an oversize black leather jacket and the back of shorts. Found metal pieces were reworked into a jewelry collaboration with the artist Georgina Trevino, but Davis noted there was less upcycling overall because they wanted to create clothing that more people can have access to.Community is fundamental to the designers’ vision, so there was a push-pull of staying true to their roots while scaling for an audience outside of their circle. Their time off served them well, as the collection felt more polished than seasons past. While there is no way of predicting what’s coming, No Sesso’s future in the fashion world is looking good.
25 October 2023
No Sesso’s Pia Davis and Autumn Randolph might be from Los Angeles, but they’re quickly making a name for themselves in New York. Last season was undoubtedly a breakout moment for them; the duo was named CFDA/VogueFashion Fund finalists just a few months later.After fall’s vibrant patchwork knits, Davis and Randolph were in a darker mood for spring. They leaned into their more provocative instincts too, opening the show with a black asymmetric dress that was completely sheer and finished with knife pleats that fluttered high on one thigh. The emphasis on skin was a running theme: think cycling shorts with curvy cutouts in the rear; G-strings layered over short shorts; and teeny-tiny bralettes that left little to the imagination. Even the more unassuming pieces, like a simple cropped polo shirt, came with a backless twist. “Sexy summer” was how they summed up the overall mood.No Sesso has a soft spot for utilitarian details—see the label’s excellent collaboration with Levi’s for proof—and the standout pieces came with cool cargo pockets, including a slinky spaghetti strap black dress that swept the floor. The ruched nylon pants with asymmetric pockets and layered drawstrings were another good example and had commercial appeal.Indeed, it seems the pair is moving away from their upcycling roots. The homespun, one-of-kind designs that first put them on the map were markedly absent from the lineup. It would have been nice to have had some of those seductive handmade touches back on the agenda.
9 September 2022
After an almost entirely handmade pre-fall 2022 collection, No Sesso is back on the runway in New York and embracing the full potential of ready-to-wear. Using traditional American materials, from brown houndstooth wool to red nylon, designers Pia Davis and Autumn Randolph wrote their own lexicon of fashion classics steeped in their experiences as Black women. Dresses dripped off the body, some in filmy olive chiffon, others in crisp cotton shirting, cradling the bust and revealing slivers of torso, thigh, and breasts. A one-shoulder silhouette with cargo pockets appeared in several different fabrications, hammering home the piece’s versatility.The real stars of the lineup were the upcycled pieces and the pair’s new Levi’s collaboration. The former, made using vintage varsity jackets, ties, puffer jackets, and other unloved fashion items, took the brand’s familiar practice and pushed it to new heights. A dress collaged together from pieces of old knitwear was trimmed in crystal beading, almost ethereal in its execution, while a short zip-front dress was boldly sexy. The denim pieces made with Levi’s toed the line of appropriateness, using corsets, lacing, and zippers to transform a cool, oversize jacket into a sexy little dress. That play of sexual and sensual with something more appropriate—see the full coverage knits and trousers—is the territory where No Sesso thrives. It’s also the place where Davis and Randolph are able to combine their skills as artists and as pragmatists. This No Sesso collection included more utilitarian, essential pieces than ever before without losing the pair’s deconstructivist touch.
16 February 2022
Pierre Davis and Autumn Randolph’s latest No Sesso collection has had a long gestation period. Nearly a year ago, the pair presented the start of their Ghetto Gold pre-fall collection via private appointments. Everything was handmade in their Los Angeles atelier, and it was not only immaculate in its potency, it felt like a marked step forward for the brand: less crafty and less casual, with a focus on glamour, individuality, and embellishment.“We’re not doing it until it’s perfect,” Davis affirmed of the final product, which was revealed in its entirety at Jeffrey Dietch’s “Shattered Glass” exhibition at Art Basel Miami Beach in December. The hand sewing and detail that Davis and Randolph like to do has been supplemented with several factory-made pieces that serve to translate their neutral-toned collection for a wider audience. “As far as how Autumn and I create, it’s more like artists,” said Davis. “We’re not about a quick delivery, and we are open to challenging the viewer.”Drawing on ideas from Afrofuturism, the Ghetto Gold collection is one of the brand’s best so far because it prizes the wearer over any ideas of trend. Many pieces simply drip off the bodies that wear them—a crystal-trimmed dress that covers a single breast, a suit with slashes and cutouts, a slinky bias-cut deep brown skirt, even a dress almost entirely composed of feathers. “You’re in our world now, and you get to see all of it,” Randolph said of their multimedia approach. When No Sesso returns to the NYFW runway this February, we’ll get to see even more.
1 February 2022
After two seasons at New York Fashion Week, No Sesso cofounders Pierre Davis and Arin Hayes were ready to bring their autumn/winter 2020 presentation back to their hometown of Los Angeles for two simple reasons: “It’s freezing in New York this time of year…and we missed our community here.” Designed in collaboration with Autumn Randolph and titled “A Vignette of the Renaissance on 24th Street” (that’s 24th Street in West Adams, Los Angeles, not Chelsea, New York City, in case you were wondering), the collection was rooted in the idea of homecoming.Presented at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (where the cofounders first met in 2015), choreographed by friend Chris Emile, and set to a soundtrack that featured original music by another friend, Cody Perkins, the theme of community was front and center. “We are a community-based brand,” said Davis of the line, which works as a sort of evolving creative black collective. “And we wanted our community to be able to attend the show and to see themselves.” To that end, rather than staging an invite-only event, the pair announced the show on Instagram and entry was free to the public.Moving away from last season’s streetwear influence and returning to the label’s artisanal roots, Davis and Randolph turned to the archive of clothing and fabric they had collected from thrift stores and flea markets over the years, upcycling and repurposing them into one-off pieces. “Last season, we used a production house, but this collection is all handcrafted,” said Davis. “It’s couture done the No Sesso way.” Patchwork, a recurring motif in No Sesso’s past collections, featured heavily on pants, fur and leather jackets, and lingerie knitwear. “It’s lingerie you can wear outside of your bedroom,” said Davis of the knitted collaged corsets, dance leotards, and short shorts. “This is our version of L.A. winter clothing.” Oversized sweaters made from deconstructed knits loomed large, and inspired Davis to design a series of No Sesso football-style scarves after one found piece, forming one of the few RTW offerings in the collection. More collaborations were on show in illustrations by artists Sensational Bobbi and B. Anele of 8 Palms, which adorned everything from opera gloves (designed by No Sesso model and designer Paris J), leather corsets, screen-printed tees, and denim, along with barely-there skirts and dresses made from salvaged lengths of silk and embellished with costume jewelry found in the Santee Alley, downtown L.A.
’s kitschy fashion district market.This being L.A., there was also plenty of denim that Davis had dyed, bleached, and then dyed again and finished with airbrushed art by Jasmine Monsegue, who also collaborated on several tribute pieces to the late Kobe Bryant, including a dress made from basketball shirts. The classic No Sesso silhouette made a reappearance in a series of topsy-turvy skirts crafted out of men’s suit jackets and dresses with trains made from multiple dress shirts and a quilted nylon N.S. puffer coat, also made of multiple coats that had been taken apart, hand-sewn back together, and stuffed with Poly-fil to create an exaggerated, abstract form. “There’s something very No Sesso about these pieces in that you need a friend to help lace you into it and then get you out of it again at the end of the night,” quipped Davis. “It makes them all more intimate and special.”
28 February 2020
Since Pierre Davis founded her inclusive, community-oriented label No Sesso in 2015, she has rooted her playful designs in her visual artistic practice with seemingly little regard for scalability. One standout jacket from 2016, hand-embroidered (the brand’s signature) with different black women’s hairstyles, took six months for Davis to create. At her New York Fashion Week debut last season, the star of a show was a blazer she transformed into a gown by fastening multiple other blazers around the waist. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than, say, artist Kelsey Lu, who wore that very same garment to No Sesso’s Spring 2020 show last night, pulling off the dramatic piece with such nonchalant ease.With her new collection, I’d Rather Rescue Myself, Davis wanted to bridge the gap between her crafty designs, which can often be construed more as art objects, and a greater sense of everyday wearability. “A lot of people ask about purchasing pieces, and we wanted to still keep our art concepts going—hand-dyed fabrics, hand-drawn details, hand-embroidery—but to make them a little bit more wearable for people to access and buy,” Davis said following the show, outfitted in a bucket hat printed with the collection’s foundational print: a superhero flying over the city with two girls sitting on her back, all of whom are black women. It’s a drawing that only underlies the brand’s community ethos—Davis says she’s most inspired by clothes that she’d want to wear herself and pieces that would look good on her friends—and it’s one that she took from a T-shirt she saw while in Tokyo in March. She re-envisioned the original graphic, which had a white man as the superhero, as a version that better reflected her worldview.This more grounded approach, combined with No Sesso’s cheeky “silly and sexy” Spring ethos, resulted in colorful airbrushed T-shirts that offered up a more refined take on the ones you might have found at a mall kiosk in the early 2000s, sumptuous tie-dye silk slip dresses and comfy, striped knit one-pieces. True to the brand’s roots, some painstakingly embroidered garments dotted the collection, too, as did some unconventional and formally impressive techniques: All of the particularly thin knits that Davis showed were actually made from embroidery floss.Davis made history last season, becoming the veryfirst openly trans woman to show at New York Fashion Week.
True to her brand’s message, though, Davis has only turned her focus outward, empowering others with her undeniably fun yet artful pieces—just think of her as the woman in her drawing, a superhero flying with her Los Angeles cohorts riding high along with her. The brand’s co-director, Arin Hayes, summed up this aspect of the collection well: “It’s just about upholding each other and upholding yourself.” Judging from the contagious vibrancy of this collection, they’ll only have more No Sesso community members to come, which Davis seems to be ready for. “We want the entire world to know Sesso.”
7 September 2019