Gregory Parkinson (Q4192)
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Gregory Parkinson is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Gregory Parkinson |
Gregory Parkinson is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Gregory Parkinson has seen the light. "I'll never do that again," he joked, referring to Fall's mostly black collection. The truth is, the lacy black frocks sold extremely well and won him some new fans among women who are print- and color-averse. Nonetheless, it was back to chalky pastels and floral motifs for Spring, as well as his signature lace. This time around, though, Parkinson put the emphasis on separates, rather than the labor-intensive party dresses for which he's known. There were sweet cropped tanks paired with knee-length skirts whipped up in the same lace-over-print combo. There were mismatched oversize tees and sporty high-waisted shorts. And there was a particularly pretty white lace top worn with an ankle-length double-layer skirt of naive, almost hand-tatted-looking lace and a vibrant pink and blue flower cotton print.The big news here, and the part of the story that most excited Parkinson himself, was his collaboration with the cashmere company Parker Blue. The crewnecks and cardigans had a snug fit in contrast to the boxier shapes of the other pieces, and Parkinson employed sponging techniques to give them their bright splotches of color or little polka dots. For Resort, he played around with simply cut printed jersey tanks and tees. Here, sewing them inside out so the hazy reverse side of the patterns showed, he turned them into something special. It was interesting to see him apply his artsy approach to humbler items. Parkinson reported he was headed right back to L.A. "I've got nine bridesmaids next weekend," he said. When the wedding is over and he starts thinking about next season, what would be fun is seeing what he could do with denim.
5 September 2013
Stepping into Gregory Parkinson's Resort presentation on Friday instantly alleviated the New York gloom. Parkinson is based in L.A.—he has that effect on a girl. But his new collection of artfully mismatched tops and skirts was especially bright. Their mood-enhancing properties seemed to have rubbed off, even on him: "I'd like to do these kinds of clothes twelve months a year," he said. The idea couldn't have been simpler: Parkinson sewed jersey tanks or tees inside out, so the faded, slightly blurred reverse sides of the prints were showing, then paired them with below-the-knee, full skirts in clashing prints. He's got a fun, fearless way with color and pattern, and it was back in full evidence after a mostly black Fall collection. A couple of other positive developments: His newly launched e-commerce site is now accepting orders, and, even better, he's working on a home-furnishings collection.
6 June 2013
It was a surprise to walk into Gregory Parkinson's presentation today and see so much black. Considering he was coming off a gorgeous Spring collection of dresses that seemed to glow from within, you had to ask him why. Explaining the thinking behind the shift, the L.A.-based Parkinson said, "I consider myself a beachy, resort designer, and I asked myself how do I transition to a Fall collection." He was also sure to point out that his blacks aren't true blacks; each piece is custom-dyed. "There's lots of depth in them," he said. A close inspection revealed the accuracy of that statement—the lookbook pictures do better justice to his 17 tiny top and full skirt combinations than the ill-lit room in which they were presented. Tie-dye techniques created bands of jewel tones on several of the skirts; another to-the-floor tiered style was actually purple with a black tulle overlay. Two others came in black floral lace with white petticoats, lending them a formality that set them apart. The tops were wispy little things, sleeveless more often than not, which meant the eye kept going back to a stretch crochet sweater with sleeves to the elbows. A camisole and skirt with hits of fiery orange and purple were reminders of Parkinson's lush color sense. Maybe you can't blame a guy for embracing the dark side once in a while, but you couldn't help but hope that he finds his usual spark again next season.
7 February 2013
"Something wonderfully excessive felt like the right thing to do right now," Gregory Parkinson said at his presentation. Not that we needed any convincing—Parkinson's 15 dresses were easy to love. Made from three, four, and even five layers of different colored laces, they almost shimmered in the Hudson River haze visible through the windows of the 12th-floor loft in which he showed. The woman who wears one of these dresses won't go unnoticed."Labor-intensive" was the term Parkinson used to describe them, pointing to a calloused index finger; and we believe him. But the effect was effortless: simple shifts and slipdresses to the knee or ankle, some fitted like a column and others more A-line. What drew you in were the reverberating colors—bubblegum pink trimmed with aqua; brick red and ocher intermingling with a camouflage print in complementary hues; patchworks of Turkish delight pastels.Parkinson's dresses are of this moment, but also timeless. While this reporter was chatting with him, Lisa Immordino Vreeland, whose documentaryThe Eye Has to Travelpremieres this weekend, leaned in for a kiss and told him about all the compliments she received on the engagement party dress he designed for her 13 years ago. When she wore it again last week.
6 September 2012
After his all-white collection last Spring, Gregory Parkinson returned for Fall to his O.G. maximalist ways. "I think I have to continue with what's my strongest point," he said at today's presentation. "Everyone's doing print and color. I have to show them how to do it."That might sound boastful, but Parkinson's quite the mix master, and his recent palate-cleansing season seems to have further refreshed his vision. His clothes were sharp, sleek, and more luxurious than they've ever been—nearly every look glowed with shine. He chalked it up to greater resources, evidence that business is good. Yet Parkinson knows how to take the stuffing out of potentially precious pieces, like cropped jacquard trousers with raw-edge lace tuxedo stripes, or even fur, which he had knitted into floppy little cardigans and trimmed with vintage lace. His models resembled ruined tsarinas, their finery now tattered enough to be cool.Parkinson says his dream is to have his own store, an environment to showcase his world and put his clothes in context. Still, he doesn't impose his kaleidoscopic aesthetic as an all-or-nothing proposition. "I like the way that my clientele work my things into their wardrobes," he explained. This collection is sure to see quite a few women doing just that.
9 February 2012
It seems counterintuitive to do an all-white collection when everyone else has gone bonkers for print and color, especially for Gregory Parkinson, who's built a cult fan base on a mastery of both. But his Spring presentation, with its milky, pure tonal palette, made absolute and rather beautiful sense.The absence of color shed light on texture, and this was no minimal affair. In fact, Parkinson pronounced it his most worked collection to date. Each look was built up in layers of organza, crochet, georgette, silk voile, and lace mixed with humbler fare like crinkled cotton and the sheer jersey that gave many dresses their cool, skinny sleeves. "You just pull that dress on and go," the designer said of one look. "It's not precious." And yet it is. These embroideries don't come cheap: One corded lace rang in at 100 euros a yard. (If you are searching for the perfect beach wedding dress, look no further.)But with his capsule Anthropologie collection coming in February, upping the ante on his main line feels right. After his time in the CFDA/VogueFashion Fund, the designer has a redoubled ambition to bring in new customers. The lower-priced collab should help, and so should this collection.
9 September 2011
Gregory Parkinson has a busy summer ahead of him: a trip to Shanghai for his Anthropologie collaboration and an excursion to the Peruvian jungle, where he'll be working at the behest of the Field Museum of Chicago, helping the Shipibo tribe to develop their embroideries. The L.A. designer made a quick stop in New York to show off his Resort collection, which had an easy informality compared to his Fall lineup. The color palette is earthier, too. In the overdyed camouflage-print wrap top, worn with walking shorts and a bikini, you could blend into the exotic surroundings on your next trip to Florida or Hawaii—two destinations in which Parkinson has recently noticed that vacation-goers are dressing up more. Then again, blending in isn't really Parkinson's thing. Case in point: the gorgeous caftan patchworked together from printed silk twill, tie-dye stripes, and more of that camo fabric. You won't want to save it for the beach.
15 June 2011
Reviewing Gregory Parkinson's Spring 2011 collection, I wrote: "With its vibrating colors and bold prints, [it] looks like nothing else we've seen so far this season." What a difference a few weeks would make. By the end of the Paris shows last October, hyper prints had become a key trend, and they continue to be a big story for Fall. Parkinson was there first, and influential boutiques like Ikram in Chicago and Capitol in Charlotte, North Carolina, have picked up his line in the interim.From the looks of the Fall collection he showed on models at Milk Studios tonight (a step up from last seaon's mannequins), there will be other stores following suit. Each of the 16 handmade outfits was a panoply of color and print and texture. There was a real verve to the way he layered a bolero jacket with Lurex appliqués over a printed lace tee and long full floral skirt, or a printed wool lace coat over a dip-dye tank and foil-printed denim jacquard trousers. The models even said they felt like princesses. Head to toe it's positively transformative, but the real beauty of the collection is how it can be taken apart. You could be the center of attention with just that bolero jacket and your own pair of jeans.
12 February 2011
With a 16-year-old brand to his credit, Gregory Parkinson is one of the most experienced fashion week newcomers around. He's hardly hurting for clients (Barneys and Linda Dresner are longtime stockists), but the L.A.-based, English-born designer decided to use his CFDA/VogueFashion Fund award nomination to raise his profile in New York and internationally this season. And he definitely had the goods to do so at his mannequin presentation tonight.Parkinson's first passion is fabrics. One of the dresses in the 16-look lineup was hand-stitched together from 24 separate swatches of material, and most of the assembled pieces were over-dyed. The effects were positively kaleidoscopic, so he was smart to keep the silhouettes fairly simple: a deep V-tank cut from an abstract floral was shown over a full, ankle-scraping skirt; lace and mesh bed jackets topped to-the-floor dresses; and the collection's one pair of pants, in over-dyed leopard spot, was worn with a belted jacket in a mismatched print. Parkinson's most popular silhouette is a tank dress. "There's something about them," he said. "No matter how many a woman has, she'll keep buying them." You can chalk that up to ease—comfort is one of Parkinson's big selling points. Another: "Women want things that last for more than one season," he noted. One thing's for certain: With its vibrating colors and bold prints, Parkinson's collection looks like nothing else we've seen so far for Spring 2011.
8 September 2010