Wayne (Q3670)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Wayne is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Wayne |
Wayne is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
The contemporary market is driven by youth. Buyers posit that women shopping the category typically want to look girlish, no matter their actual age. Wayne Lee, on the other hand, offers something more austere in a sea of poppy prints and sequins. Fall was informed by a trip to the Met, where she visited the museum's just-closed costume exhibitDeath Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire. "I've always been inspired by the 19th century," she said at a showroom appointment. "It was about re-creating that moment in a Wayne way."High-neck silk blouses in navy and white were tipped in brown fur, and subtle godet bustles transformed tunic blouses and pencil skirts. Lee does well with outerwear: Standouts included a navy cotton sateen cargo-pocket jacket, again with fur trimming, as well as a black-and-white houndstooth padded bomber with navy ribbing at the hips and collar. The designer took that houndstooth and broke it up into single pieces to create an abstract print on an artfully draped white silk dress. She also used embroidery for the first time: A chain of daisies was sewn onto the collar of a snakeskin-print brocade tunic.There is a wonky-ness to Lee's point of view. A peach T-shirt printed with a "Thank You" shopping bag motif felt strange next to the rest of the collection, which was made up of sophisticated pieces like a tie-front wool gabardine blouse and a navy Crombie coat. Yet there is also something admirable in making serious clothes not look too serious. Lee used the word "fun" to describe a fur-dotted chiffon skirt. For those seeking something beyond the glitz of more traditional contemporary brands, Wayne might be it.
17 February 2015
Unlike many designers who appeal to the downtown crowd, Wayne Lee isn't afraid of calling her clothes workwear. "This would be great for the office," she said in her studio, holding up a pair of trousers with a lightly ruffled skirt attached to the front. In fact, a woman could easily build a new sort of power wardrobe out of Lee's Spring collection. The designer did a lot with "two for ones," including a white diamond-dotted shirt attached to a black skirt, as well as a vest and dress paired together for a new spin on the suit. Even a T-shirt dress was office-appropriate when rendered in silk wool and triple-wrapped with a thick belt, giving it a waist. Lee brought back some of her longtime hits, including the skort, and also put a lot of emphasis on pattern. A collared tunic—which had the look of a button-up, but cleaner—was done in a digital python print. It was particularly good with a saffron-colored trench in silk wool. Great for work? Yes. But still cool.
12 September 2014
Wayne Lee, lover of all things black and navy, pushed herself to use more color for this year's Wayne Resort effort. The designer was eager, she said, to climb out of the "dark, liquid-y pool of winter."Lee jumped right in, offering a series of rainbow-bright frocks and separates that played nicely to her minimalist-with-a-flip aesthetic. A single-ruffle dress with cutout shoulders came in canary yellow, while a tennis dress was rendered in eye-popping fuchsia. A bi-level shirtdress in a subdued taupe had a yellow silk organza tutu peeking out from the bottom of its sculptural skirt, and a silk T-shirt got a graphic upgrade in color-blocked blue, yellow, and red with a jumbo-size strip of rickrack across the front. The season's print was a "reworked" bird-of-paradise flower, done in purples and oranges and an unexpected—and surprisingly welcome—leopard print. "It's a little whimsical and a little unpredictable," Lee said.For those who prefer predictability, the designer offered more of her in-demand skorts—a style that is creeping up in popularity across the board—as well as a few key pieces in noncolors, including a charming minidress with a white strapless top and a little black skort.The lineup worked so well because Lee accomplished exactly what she set out to do. "There's no distance between me and the collection," she said. "It really is me."
12 June 2014
For Fall, Wayne Lee stayed on a steady track. She brought back some of the best silhouettes of recent seasons—including the miniskirt-over-narrow-trouser combo, this time in gray suiting—but she also added new textures and flourishes that gave them a legitimate update. A long V-front coat in brushed camel offered the cozy element everyone seems to be looking for this season, while a Swarovski peace sign on a sweatshirt hovered over the ironic/crude line Lee is excellent at walking."I did of lot of cocktail dresses this season," Lee said while going through the looks in her Garment District studio, sounding a bit surprised with herself. One style, a black number with a plunging V and an attached crystal necklace, offered just enough sex appeal. Those same tiny crystals—the color Lee used is called Aurora Borealis; it has an iridescent tinge—accented a gray wool top in a line across the bust.A new look for Wayne was boot-cut trousers, which Lee did in that same gray suiting fabric. Like most of what she showed, these had an urgent, must-buy-now feel. She's definitely good at making straightforward pieces particularly desirable.
12 February 2014
Peg-Boards and martial arts may be two completely disparate ideas, but they both served designer Wayne Lee well for Pre-Fall. "'I'm on a slight spiritual quest," said Lee, who explained that the Peg-Boards reminded her of soundproof material, which represented her own "blocking out of all the unnecessary noise."The designer took the martial arts idea and created interesting wrap skirts and dresses, most notably a red satin number with a tie waist. It had a "fuller" silhouette than she has presented in recent seasons, and it gave off plenty of exuberance, even when it was just hanging on a rack. The same could be said for her vignette of black-and-white Peg-Board inspired pieces; rarely have polka dots looked so cool. What was also cool was a black top dotted with three oversize grommets and trimmed with navy, red, and green varsity-style ribbing at the hip.The great thing about Lee's work: While it can come off as a bit odd in the good, Phoebe Philo sort of way, it's also ideal for the office. For instance, a black dress looked prim, thanks to a single button placed high on the collar. Yet once that button was undone, the fabric draped down into a sexy cowl-neck. A true boardroom-to-cocktails moment.
15 December 2013
Sexy cowgirl? It's an apt, if slightly misleading, description for Wayne Lee's Spring offering. These were not skimpy clothes for square dancing, but instead sophisticated separates with just enough Southwestern influence to make them interesting.Bolo ties, designed in collaboration with Lee's sculptor boyfriend, Eric Fertman, were worn with deep, chest-exposing V-neck tunics and something the designer is calling a "blazer cape"—which has the collar of a blazer and the silhouette of, yes, a cape. Leather, made to look like bleached denim, was used for a more traditional blazer—"I couldn't find anything like that, so I went ahead and designed it myself," explained Lee. Black sweatshirts were screen-printed with dragon-crystal-bird-of-paradise motifs. (The only thing missing? The requisite dream catcher.)These verging-on-kitsch pieces were balanced with Lee's utilitarian basics. This season, she experimented with oversize cargo pockets that elegantly dipped below the seams on jackets, shirts, and shorts. The skort, which Lee introduced into her repertoire back in 2009 but has gained major traction for Spring 2014, was well represented in both leather and crepe versions. "Now that everybody is on a Citi Bike, it feels like the skort is finally having its moment," she said. Indeed it does.
16 September 2013
For Resort, designer Wayne Lee prefers to go the traditional route. "I always want it to be less serious than Fall, pieces you could really wear on vacation," she said at her studio. To lighten things up, Lee incorporated subtle ruffling and flouncy materials, as well as a Miami-inspired flamingo print. The skort—ripe for a real comeback—plays a major role in the collection, incorporated into a fuchsia minidress as well as flippy skater skirts in several colors. "In New York, at least, I feel like it's so windy and skirts are always blowing up," she said. "It's a way to wear something short and flowy when it's hot, but still feel covered."Convenience plays a big role in Lee's latest effort—a navy leather bomber is made warm-weather wearable thanks to the perforated treatment, as is a mini wrap skirt paneled in the same material. A white minidress with gentle asymmetrical ruffles truly could work at the beach and the office, because of its forgiving-but-still-structured shape. And even a tube dress—done in her favorite electric blue—is easier to wear because of the thick elastic band holding it up at the top. "I hate when I constantly have to adjust my clothes," said Lee. With pieces as easy as this, her customers won't have that worry.
16 June 2013
Robert Frost once wrote, "Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice, from what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire." By the looks of her pre-fall collection, so does designer Wayne Lee, a longtime fan of Frost. She set a dark, romantic mood with a red-hot solar flare print that blazed on a layered peplum top with duchesse-satin trim and a matching pair of sporty shorts. The athletic vibe carried over to black tuxedo trousers with elongating white stripes down the side. In embossed crocodile, lamb leather, and silk wool, the jacket that went with them was less sportif than luxe. Ditto a vest top in the same material that was styled with a sheer side-slit tank and leather to-the-knee biker shorts. A series of laser-cut separates with a lacelike lattice pattern rounded out the range, demonstrating Lee's continued efforts to elevate the label. "I'm always looking to build on the brand, without skimping on details," she said.
18 December 2012
Wayne Lee can't seem to kick the memories of her trip to the Caribbean last year. Her Spring collection found her diving deeper into the ocean. Her dream has always been to be a marine biologist. The under-the-sea theme was most evident in the prints. Lee incorporated four into the latest range. One was inspired by the Portuguese man-of-war, a jellyfishlike invertebrate that has 30-foot-long tentacles. ("I had them cut shorter for the clothes," she joked.) Another print was a digital rendering of a coral reef. It showed up on tanks, slouchy boy-fit pants, and a baseball-style bomber jacket.The wares were more colorful than what we usually see at Wayne. "Maybe it's because I had a kid," she said. "I have been reading a lot of children's books, and it definitely changes the way you think." Cobalt blue, conch pink, and a neon yellow were mixed in with the line's signature black and white palette. Shapes and silhouettes stayed true to the Wayne DNA but were updated with cool details. Racer-back tanks got side zippers, mini skorts (and skort dresses!) were lined in contrasting colors, and flaps on cropped pants were strategically placed to create an apron effect. It's pieces like these that we'd like to see more of next season.
20 September 2012
Wayne Lee is still thinking about a trip she took to the Caribbean a year ago. Perhaps it's because she learned an important lesson there about tropical dressing. "I brought all my black clothing and I was so out of place," she said. "In Anguilla you have to wear color." Her new Resort collection follows that guideline. Her hue of choice was a fluorescent green—on an inverted-pleat miniskirt, a boxy tube dress, and a button-up tank. "Kelp," she called it, like the seaweed. Vivid memories of the sea also lent themselves to a cobalt blue and bright yellow anemone print that appeared on a short-sleeve shift dress and a "peekaboo" skirt with an extra, "just for fun" flap in the back. Also in the mix: Lee's signature sporty-chic separates, most notably a white cropped mesh baseball jacket and "denim" leather shorts.
20 June 2012
Wayne Lee will not deny her inclination to study industry veterans Rick Owens and Ann Demeulemeester for inspiration. But after today's show, it's clear that the new mom knows how to make her collection look and feel like her own. Lee stuck with the "Wayne DNA" (she's trying to build a lifestyle brand) yet her signature separates in black, gray, white, and the occasional brown were infused with surprising pops of neon on the shoulders of tanks and the tails of coats, and for the first time, the designer used snakeskin. Lee worked the glossy reptile leather into shirts and dresses, and used an abstract cobra print to create free-flowing silk wide-leg pants that were paired with a chunky cable-knit sweater.Also new for Fall was a sporty theme. Baseball tees with leather sleeves, hooded jackets, pinstriped leggings, and monochrome low-top Converse sneakers ruled the runway. But from the way Amanda Brooks and Mark Lee of Barneys (which the designer says has always been her biggest supporter) snapped pictures from the front row, it seemed that the last look, a long black coat with a raccoon collar, was what earned the designer a home run.
10 February 2012
Wayne Lee's business keeps growing. The designer gave birth to a baby boy right around her Spring runway show, and now she's adding a pre-fall collection to her plate. Like many of the other newcomers to this season's schedule, Wayne wants to make "wear it now" clothes-— layers to build up or pare down as desired. The highlights, as usual for Lee, were clean and straightforward, with a balance of masculinity and edgy femininity. On the boyish side, she showed suiting separates like a short skirt in a custom python print with tuxedo tail-like flaps. A one-sleeved dress in "dried-blood" silk with a scoop-back cutout, meanwhile, tapped into the label's more sensual side, as did tinsel-colored panne velvet pieces, including a high-neck long dress cut on the bias. Unlike Wayne's first Resort collection, this pre-season lineup will be sold to retailers in addition to Barneys, and further expansions are reportedly in the works.
21 December 2011
Fashion week is always a labor of love, but perhaps no one felt the pangs quite as literally this season as Wayne Lee. The designer went into labor 45 minutes after attending her own Fashion's Night Out fête (she delivered a healthy baby boy) and still managed to pull off a Spring 2012 runway collection just a week later. "I was attracted to photographs of the American desert landscape, and I loved how stark and beautiful the desert birds of prey were," Lee said, calling from the hospital bed where she stayed until the day before her runway date. "It was about light and flight."Aside from the palette—black, white, bone, and a jolt of bright blue in a "rope snake" print by artist collaborator Benjamin Degen—the inspiration wasn't directly obvious. Instead, Lee seemed more influenced by her pregnancy. Rather than cutting on the bias as she did for Fall 2011, she showed more forgiving sleeveless blouse dresses (perfect for hiding a baby bump) generously cut from fully lined silk. There was also a focus on layering, and in some styles, it was tough to tell (in a good way) where one piece ended and another began. As the show progressed, most of the looks were likable and obviously well thought-out, and you couldn't help but feel a bit of Ann Demeulemeester déjà vu with the pieces that had double-breasted mannish details, styled with Doc Martens oxfords and boots.There are worse designers to emulate, but after Lee's Rick Owens ode last season, a more directional ingenuity would have been a nice surprise.
13 September 2011
For being a pixie of a thing, Wayne Lee sure knows how to design tough clothes. Head-to-toe leather, in the style of Rick Owens, was the look for her Fall collection. Hoods, asymmetric zips, draped jersey, distressed suede—they all figured prominently here, with everything executed in a palette of black, white, and dirt brown, with pops of bright red.Lee drew inspiration from the Renaissance artist Hans Memling's oil portraits, and that came across in the gritty textures and androgynous feel of the collection. A long and sharp white vest, for example, looked like a nobleman's doublet; the tough, padded jackets would work as part of an urbanite's suit of armor. There were softer pieces mixed in, too. Au courant mid-calf skirts that hugged the body were bias-cut in three-ply silk. Lee also added a personal touch with wooden amulets and collars hand-carved by her boyfriend, Eric Fertman.
9 February 2011
"I've heard you're supposed to feed them meat, and I haven't been doing that," Wayne Lee said of the Venus flytraps she bought to provide fodder for her Spring collection. The plants were dying, but no matter—her presentation was meaty enough.The look was sporty and slicked to the body, the kind of thing that no-fuss urban girls will want. An inverted petal shape informed the silhouette of dresses and, quite beautifully, the extra-long split-front skirt that closed the show. Rayon pants were bonded to the wearer's form with leather patches and harness straps; they'd do a dominatrix proud, but any man-eater on the prowl for an unapologetically body-con look would dig them, too. Athletic materials—viscose, cotton mesh—and lots of racerbacks kept the sex appeal approachable. Prints featuring wood knots and the aforementioned flytraps, in lieu of tamer florals, made a welcome addition to Lee's sleek mix of dangerously sharp neutrals.
12 September 2010
Last season, Wayne Lee's knockout ruched minidresses were reason enough to dust off your yoga mat (or dig out those Spanx). This season, she took a more forgiving tack, working a slightly slouchy silhouette and experimenting with sweat suiting. The latter trend has already been picked up by Zara and co., but Lee's leather-accented marbled gray cotton version, worn with a metallic brushed-wool jacket, may be the only outfit you'll want to put on this fall.A partnership with Saga led to the label's first foray into furs, and the results were characteristically assured. A cropped mink poncho in deep burnt sienna stood out for its clean geometry, while the raccoon trim on a double wool-crepe cape with an enormous hood gave an all-black look the perfect lift.Fake fur and faux leather were put to good use, too, as part of Lee's strategy to offer pieces at a variety of price points; they held their own among their 100 percent genuine counterparts. Still, when it comes to shopping time, the real-deal baggy leather basketball shorts and the wool culottes with leather insets could prove too charming to resist.
11 February 2010
Naming the works of sculptor Richard Serra as her compass for Spring, CFDA/VogueFashion Fund finalist Wayne Lee focused on minimalism and draping. Ruched goddess minidresses with graphic cutouts and a major emphasis on the leg showcased her aptitude for working a single piece of fabric around the body—to sexy, insouciant effect—while more practical, everyday items like a paneled leather vest worn over a sheer, asymmetric silk charmeuse top would be appreciated by any woman with an eye for one-off basics (that is, by almost any savvy consumer these days). Lee debuted a line of sculptural rings and leather bags—keep an eye out for her must-have hobo and oversize metallic duffel—but her clothes were styled without fuss, and they did just fine on their own.
9 September 2009