Wink (Q3693)
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Wink is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Wink |
Wink is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
So what if Wink's show, held on a frigid night in a cramped East Village office/gallery, started late and didn't have any seats? The downtown girls who love these funky, unfussy clothes don't care about sitting down.For his part, Wink designer Wynn Smith wisely limited the collection to 16 well-edited looks, shown on a frieze of models standing on a narrow platform. The proximity allowed for close inspection of his distinguishing characteristics: the delicately frayed black jersey trim on a grey flannel shift, for example, or a witty sweater-coat styled to resemble a trench. Smith also showed a sure hand in styling, lending his outfits an extra dimension by playing off fragile fabrics against denser materials—corduroy with chiffon, twill with voile, chunky knits with flimsy pieces.Wink is one of the few young fashion designers not itching to be an avant-garde darling. He seems more interested in the subtle art of injecting originality into fashion's tried-and-true formulas. Judging from his hipster following, the effort is paying off.
7 February 2003
Wynn Smith's Wink line has always evoked a very specific subsection of American youth—well-bred girls who, for one reason or another, have gone bad (or at least want to dress that way).Next Spring, Smith's followers will stomp about in great-looking confetti-print crepe de chine dresses; instead of conventional suits, they will wear street-ready shrunken pinstripe blazers and long denim skirts with matching patchwork insets. Also likely to show up on hipper college campuses across the country are Smith's bias-tucked shirts, baggy linen jeans and khaki belted trenches. It's unlikely, on the other hand, that his shapeless, gauzy smocks or baggy bikini bottoms will find many takers.Smith has consistently displayed an ability to push buttons with his confident aesthetic and irreverent sense of humor—an early collection played out as a homage to Patty Hearst, while another was titled "No Free Love Hippie Shit Here." Alas, this time around, the show's self-consciously grungy styling (sundress open to the navel, anyone?) and aggressive soundtrack proved more jarring than intriguing.
19 September 2001
Designer Wynn Smith certainly knows his way around the hallmarks of adolescence: His fun, witty presentation felt like a guided tour of a cooler-than-thou high schoolWho's Who.Remember the snobby seniors who never gave you the time of day? They were all there, if considerably less menacing now in their flannel coat-dresses, double-breasted navy wool coats and perky Fair Isle blouses. Also on hand were the moody Ally Sheedy types, hidden under layers of black corduroy, textured prairie skirts in need of a wash and shrunken blazers stolen from someone else's boyfriend. More outgoing types identified with the girls who dared to wear blue plastic trapeze dresses, tie-dyed tees, miniature shorts and striped turtlenecks.Smith succeeded in mixing and matching an assortment of references into an eclectic postmodern wardrobe that evoked plenty of all-too-familiar memories but still managed to look absolutely fresh and new.
13 February 2001
Love was in the air at Wynn Smith's Spring collection. Thematically the show—which consisted of five vignettes—was about an Amish girl who saw pictures of Prince William at a polo match and fell in love with him. The show began with four all-black ensembles and closed with a wedding dress (also black, with a quilted appliqué) and two "bridesmaids."The "Polo Match" and "Eton" vignettes featured man-tailored separates made of Prince of Wales plaid, which was meant to evoke an English feel. A shirt-jacket and shorts ensemble, as well as white shorts cut like jodhpurs, were particularly effective.This season Smith paid homage to Rei Kawakubo (much as he did to Stephen Sprouse last Fall). To this end, there were many interesting back treatments, cutouts and asymmetries. Thematic organizations aside, there were strong pieces to be found in this collection, which followed its own plot line rather than the season's trends.
21 September 2000
"American Gothic" was the theme for Wink's '80s-inspired collection, which included direct references to such pop-culture icons as The Smiths. T-shirts and leggings were inscribed with "Bigmouth Strikes Again" in bold letters; dark, loose coats, reminiscent of Ally Sheedy in _The Breakfast Club_were worn with zip pants and flat ankle boots. There were also pleated skirts, low-waisted sweatshirt dresses and satin-cuffed jeans—ideal urban-combat gear. The show ended with a navy-washed strapless dress—the one that the bad, pretty girl, who in junior high smoked in between classes, would have worn to the prom.
10 February 2000