Interior (Q4795)
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Interior is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Interior |
Interior is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
First, the elephant in the room. Lily Miesmer, who co-funded Interior alongside Jack Miner in 2020, has departed the label. She will continue as a silent partner, with Miner running the ship. This fall 2024 lineup was his first doing so solo: “When you have a partner or someone that you’re very intimate with for a long time, in any capacity, the idea of breaking away from them feels scary,” said Miner at his presentation. “It feels like a leap of faith, but I know that I can do it.”This collection, in more ways than one, saw Interior in a liminal space. There is the case of Miesmer’s departure, sure, but independent brands like this one are navigating treacherous waters. The anxiety—and curiosity—in New York this season over which brands are still healthy enough to keep on going was palpable. “We as an emerging brand are highly susceptible to any type of volatility,” said Miner, “so when the market has a tremor, larger brands and medium-size to larger-size brands are able to sustain that in a way that we are less able to.” But with every challenge comes opportunity, he said, explaining that Interior has had “wonderful support from stores” and that this has also pushed him to tend to his DTC vertical. As Miner spoke, two fashion directors at large-scale retailers greeted him, and many editors and buyers at his presentation were wearing his clothes. So far, so good.“We always envision our woman relative to Americana in one form or the other,” said Miner of his lineup. This season, he looked at New York City nightlife from the ’70s through the ’90s, considering hotspots like Studio 54, Tunnel, Palladium, and Limelight, and the cast of characters that inhabited them. What Miner argues is that these were “very democratic places where people’s visual personas were fostered to be authentic to themselves.” The gist of it is that now, in the age of TikTok and Instagram, what drives our culture is a “drive toward assimilation.” People’s measure of visual success is their neighbor or their favorite influencer, as is their barometer for style.To celebrate this cult of the individual, Miner, somewhat paradoxically, narrowed down club culture of yore into a range of archetypes. The painter wore a just perfectly oversize double-breasted corduroy suit; the musician a new dress iteration of the brand’s popular low-slung crewneck sweater (“it’s gone not viral, butbaby viral?” said Miner).
Miner’s off-duty ballerina and model wore a version of the same jacket, belted and elongated with an ’80s shoulder silhouette, here deftly rounded at the shoulder rather than the sleeve cap: It was the most covetable piece of the collection together with the dashed and broken pinstripe suit worn by the corporate yuppie. The socialite wore a navy jersey dress with cascading tangled chiffon unraveling into the ground, and the “’80s call girl” a prim black lace dress. Miner’s most compelling characters were those who evoked a sense of mystery and whose clothes balanced the delicate sensibility and pressing sense of angst signature to Interior: The washed-out actress wore a beautifully bizarre billowing gold silk gown, the writer a slouchy suit with an overcoat with a shaggy shearling collar, and the club kid had gray jeans on with a funky lacey blouse underneath, its ruffled collar and sleeves cascading out of her jacket like an off-duty Pierrot clown after a bender.“What we respond to emotionally is imperfection,” said Miner about his approach at Interior. The label has found a reputation for its compelling, perverse, and intentionally [insert expletive here] takes on a wardrobe classic. “The things that are wrong about us are the things that make us interesting and emotionally resonant,” said Miner. He’s right about that, and it’s a sentiment that he should continue to imprint into his clothes. How can a brand offer to outfit the nonconformist while still creating something everyone will want tobuy? Miner is a deft designer with an eye for the technical, his ability to solve this riddle moving forward now will hinge on balancing his meticulous eye with his crave for imperfection.
14 February 2024
What do you wear when you’d rather wear nothing at all? That’s the question Interior’s Lily Miesmer and Jack Miner set out to answer with a pre-fall collection consisting of cotton poplin dresses, lace skirts, board shorts, and matching separates in lightweight fabrics. “Pre-fall is about creating clothes that you actually want to put on your body in the most hostile of temperatures and circumstances,” Miesmer said. “I think we came up with a way to do it with a sense of humor.”There were several pairs of shorts in the offering, which is a fairly rare sight for a sophisticated womenswear brand. Beige board shorts gave a sweater a little bit of a surfer vibe, while an extremely distressed denim version had a more rebellious energy. A white suit subverted expectations in two ways: with shorts instead of pants and with a cutout at the back of the blazer. They suggested wearing it with one of the jersey tees that has an asymmetric neckline that wraps around like a scarf.Miesmer and Miner regularly experiment with poplin, turning it into bubble mini skirts and dresses that resemble backwards shirts. The humble fabric is a true strength of theirs. A white shirt dress with a sort of shrink wrapped bandeau over the bust, waist, and hips looked both wearable and directional. Whether you would wear it in a heatwave is questionable, but it’s so chic you just might.
14 December 2023
Who among us hasn’t fantasized about being the girl in the movie, descending a staircase after a makeover montage, while the object of her affection gazes on approvingly? The transformation from ugly duckling to beautiful swan is enchanting even to those who graduated high school long ago. Lily Miesmer and Jack Miner looked to 1980s movies—specifically Tony Danza’sShe’s Out of Control, which Miesmer saw at a “very formative age,” and a composite “bitchy girlfriend” to a James Spader villain—to inspire their own transformative moment this season.It was a surprising reference for a brand that’s resolutely adult. Interior doesn’t make it a habit to fetishize girlhood, and it seems unlikely that teens would even want a deconstructed suit or cotton-poplin ankle-length dress. The label tends to be inspired by women who are a little angry, a little on edge; this inspiration was lighter and more obviously funny. While there was a prom dress with padded hips and a nipped waist, and a miniskirt with multiple layers of tulle underneath, they were made out of stiff white cotton-poplin. In other words, they were fantasy dresses in a utilitarian fabric. The combination created a bit of humor, some irony.Bridging the gap between the ’80s fare and the more modern, classically Interior clothing were some slinky midi-dresses with plunging necklines and knot details at the waist. With structured shoulders, they felt like something a tyrannical mom in one of the movies would wear. But they also fit squarely into what Miesmer described as the “lazy, slouchy girl evening group,” which was exactly what it sounds like: silky matching sets with some rhinestones on the cuffs, chiffon going-out tops, and barely there stone gray strapless dresses.Those prom dresses with the padded hips were the standouts of the season, and it’s easy to imagine the customer wearing them with some beat-up biker boots. Good girl gone bad—and grown up.
12 September 2023
Underneath the sumptuous cashmere sweaters, crisp blazers, and cotton poplin shirts, Interior has a bit of an edgelord streak. Lily Miesmer and Jack Miner described their resort 2024 collection as “subversive Americana,” or “red, white, and blue, but blue as in sad.” They’re launching denim, so leaning into American tropes for a lookbook shot in the Rockaways (ominously on one of the days when the smoke from Canadian wildfires covered New York) felt apt.Still, pieces like a cotton poplin button-down in a shade the duo calls “McDonalds red,” straight leg blue jeans with a hint of a tapered hem, and a white mini shirt dress with convertible sleeves are attractive and even classic. A long-sleeve slinky metallic knit dress looked sleek and alluring, without trying too hard. Column dresses with flouncy hems have become a signature style, and the red halter iteration is perfect for summer.“There’s no tension in shooting these in their intended context. It’s fun to mix it with a little bit of grime,” Miesmer said, adding that they could have staged the photoshoot with smiling models frolicking near a fountain, but where’s the fun in that?It’s interesting to note where the design duo leans into dinginess, and where they totally avoid it. For instance, a white tee is distressed, but not the more expected blue jeans or the jean jacket. The grime seeps in via the faint outline of a first generation iPhone on one of the jeans’ pockets, a distressed white t-shirt, and an almost deconstructed camel suit with completely frayed seams. But there’s just a hint of it; this is for a luxury customer after all.
15 June 2023
Any long term New Yorker has broken down in public; crying on the subway is essentially a rite of passage. For their fall 2023 collection, Lily Miesmer and Jack Miner offered a love letter to that New York and those moments, when you’re despondent and walking around the city like you’re the only person who has ever been dumped (or whatever is causing you grief at that moment). “It’s like walking through a carnival and you’re really sad,” Miesmer said.The design duo are not strangers to this distressed, sad girl bent. Their spring 2023 show was inspired in part by Bertha Mason, the woman in the attic in Jane Eyre. The fall 2023 woman is a slightly sleazy, kinda grungy ’70s-ish iteration of this idea. “She’s not polished, pulled together. She’s down and out in New York slightly, luck is not going her way.” If only we could all wander around depressed and wearing a fabulous, Maraschino cherry-red overcoat with bright white buttons, or a strapless cotton poplin dress with a drop waist skirt.The outerwear in this collection is particularly strong. Miner and Miesmer often offer slightly destroyed versions of classic pieces, and this season they took that to the next level with a camel coat “ripped” at the shoulders and back to show the lining and padding beneath. A nubby cream shearling and the aforementioned red number are perhaps more digestible and appealing for regular use. The collection features a few suits (some, like one in red leather, with matching bras instead of tops) and eveningwear. Most interesting in the latter category is a bubble-hem strapless mini dress made of red cashmere—an unexpected but not unwelcome texture.Looking at the clothes doesn’t conjure up this morose backstory. For one, they are polished, like armor for the wearer. Internally, the Interior woman may be hanging by a thread, but “she still has a fabulous coat,” Miesmer conceded.
19 February 2023
There’s nothing glamorous or romantic about late July in New York City. It’s hot, it smells like garbage, and you can’t step outside for two seconds without whatever you’re wearing becoming drenched in sweat. Interior’s Lily Miesmer and Jack Miner are familiar with this, and so designed their pre-fall, (aka high summer) collection around dressing for those days when you’d rather not be wearing anything at all. It’s a bit of a departure from the “woman-on-the-brink” aesthetic they’ve established since launching their brand in 2021, though “on-the-brink” is an apt description for just about anyone who has suffered through a 100 degree day on a subway platform in New York City.For the most part, everything is engineered to be light and airy, or at least to give the impression of lightness and airiness. Cotton poplin pajama-like pants are paired with a matching v-neck blouse. Two pairs of boxers appear in the collection, one in white cotton and the other in white lace; a pale gray chiffon dress (made to look like washed, semi-destroyed chiffon rather than picture-perfect, special occasion chiffon) resembles a sheet wrapped around the body, almost like a towel. A beaded mesh evening gown—an early signature of the brand—makes an appearance in an even lighter shade of gray. A bubble-hem mini dress is so buoyant it looks ready to pop.Despite the transparency throughout the collection, Interior is conscious of designing for women who stay in the city throughout the summer and who have jobs that likely require them to be covered. Ergo, two suits—one in tan and one in a shade of blue-green. The tan one has a shirt’s cuffs and hems buttoned into it to give the illusion of wearing a dress shirt. One less layer to worry about.
30 January 2023
The distraught socialites on the catwalk of Interior’s first show looked ready to snap. Their frenetic walk (perfected by movement coach Julia Crockett), their suits with distressed hems, and their way of clutching the thighs of their pants and dresses so they didn’t hit the floor came together to paint a portrait of glamorous angst. A coterie of Patrick Bateman’s escaped victims.Or, make that Edward Rochester’s escaped victims, as Bertha Mason and her ilk are perennial inspirations for designers Lily Miesmer and Jack Miner. “She probably just has anxiety, and they’re like ‘You’re hysterical, go live in the attic.’” Miesmer said backstage. Distress—both mental and physical—was a driving force in the show, down to the Pixies hit “Where Is My Mind” playing during the finale. Miesmer and Miner still found plenty of ways to riff on the staples of Park Avenue princesses: shirt dresses (but with voluminous trains), cozy cashmere knits (but with an unraveling crop), double breasted suits (but with raw edges and flyaway strands of fabric on the hems) and ballet flats (but actual ones used by ballerinas, sourced from Miesmer’s favorite dance store). Classic, almost preppy affluence is at the core of Miesmer and Miner’s designs, but this season there was something rotting underneath—and they’d take that as a compliment.“That’s how specialness showed up this season. In the past it was embroidery and embellishment; this season it was destruction,” Miner said. “There’s an audacity in destroying the most beautiful cotton fiber, yarn, cashmere, and layers of chiffon and lace,” Miesmer added, referring to how she and Miner took power tools and horse brushes to the textiles to give them the exact right effect. Not my-jeans-just-happen-to-be-ripped distressed, but “lived-in in an unhealthy way,” per Miesmer. That said, they tried to know where to stop in order to keep it appealing to a luxury customer; few people want to buy something totally destroyed, and brands in the past have been mocked for treading too close to that line.There are elements that went a bit too far and thus felt related to the indie sleaze revival, including a ripped red t-shirt and lace up skinny pants. However, Miesmer—who lived through that era in New York—is quick to distance Interior from that idea and the figures who defined the times. “I think it’s so problematic and it was a terribly fraught time in fashion and in New York,” she said.
“But the charming elements of indie sleaze to me are repurposing things like riding boots and ballet flats and wearing them.”The fun of Interior is how they distort the prissy, the stuffy, and the basic. Their first collection was filled with clothes that would look at home at a dinner party, but since then, Miner and Miesmer have incrementally added a sinister undercurrent. A pink strapless ruched cotton jersey top with a swishy cotton gauze skirt is a prime example. It could have been worn by one of Degas’s models, but the hem is more muted than the top, suggesting frequent wear, and the waistband is folded down. She’s not a prima ballerina; she’s the last one standing in a horror movie. Good for her.
19 September 2022
Jack Miner and Lily Miesmer bridge the gap between the precious and the perverse. Their clothes could be described as “classic with a twist,” but that’s an exceptionally dull way to put it. Instead of, say, adding puff sleeves to an oxford shirt, they want to take a piece like a t-shirt dress or a pair of brown slacks and make it weird, almost unnerving.“What could be creepier than a white leather suit? Why would we do it in any other color?” Miesmer says of their three piece suit which is, in fact, Crest-commercial white. “We wanted something that felt luxurious but a little bit pervy, which is the basic mood for the collection.”When they launched Interior last year, their twee instincts came to the fore via silk shirts embroidered with domestic scenes and pajama sets with vegetal baubles attached. This season, they’re plunging into darker, kinkier wells of inspiration. That might not be apparent when you see one of their garments on its own—a well tailored blazer is a well tailored blazer—but in their recent lookbook, shot in the style of the Scarlett Johansson thrillerUnder the Skin, Miner and Miesmer’s affinity for all things dark and twisty is clear. (For instance, the aforementioned suit is photographed with white tights in lieu of the pants.) “You’re supposed to react to things on an emotional level,” Miesmer says. “Before it was sentimental. But now coming out of the pandemic and being a woman, there’s a newfound sexuality that doesn’t feel like it’s about objectification.”The white suit is joined in the provocative category by a patent leather bra; a micro mini skirt and matching bra top made out of tangerine tassels; another mini skirt and oversized blazer made of a rumpled-on-purpose fabric that resembles a paper bag; and a seafoam green netted dress with a hood that is appropriately named after the siren Circe.As far as practicality goes, there are a few T-shirts and T-shirt dresses made with exposed seams, a cozy sweater that resembles two halves stitched together haphazardly with red thread, and furry coats that look just a little mangy (in a rakish way). With each piece, the wearer feels powerful, and the onlooker is a little afraid.
24 June 2022
Where do you go to wait out an apocalypse? Interior presents an unconventional option: sit at the Waverly Inn, a New York institution, in some pretty clothes with friends, fries, Champagne, and cigarettes. Nihilistic, maybe, but there are worse plans. “There are a number of ways to respond to the world we are all living in, or even just the fantasy or sentiment of post-apocalypse, because I don’t think it’s all bad out there. But it’s definitely on people’s minds,” co-founder Lily Miesmer says to me in one of the Inn’s booths, lit by candlelight. “Some people’s approach is color, optimism, joy, bright new future, pink, purple, ’70s, whatever. Mine has always been that chaos is really interesting fodder and it makes me want to create into it.”Miesmer, along with Jack Miner, started Interior last year as a collection of clothing with an artistic bent. A gown made of tied scraps of fabric. A jacket inspired by 14th century armor. A pajama suit adorned with dangling fruits and vegetables. This season is a little bit darker but retains the hints of absurdity and off-kilter-ness that makes their brand exciting. “The clothes are familiar but they’re a little fucked up,” Miesmer says, going on to describe their statement outerwear for the season as, “a mangy shearling. Not a perfect Upper East Side shearling.”The models at the Waverly Inn conversed at their tables, which were decorated with martinis, oysters, shrimp cocktails, and a jiggly jello. Taper candles burned down, lending a lived-in quality to the atmosphere. The models almost didn’t look out of place, save for the pair wearing see-through gowns—one of a sheer metallic fabric, and one in black netting with a hood. But by and large, Interior’s clothing already looks at home in New York institutions, worn by beautiful people in a familial setting. The most playful offering of the season was a tailored suit with trompe l’oeil illustrations by Richard Haines. The creases on the front of the trousers, as well as the darts on the jacket, are also drawn on. So is the button seemingly holding the jacket together—a hidden snap is doing all the work. Meismer calls the headline for the collection “love among the ruins.” I’ll offer, “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I’m Dressed to the Nines).”
15 February 2022
Childhood friends Jack Miner and Lily Miesmer launched their label, Interior, at the start of 2021 with a collection of whimsical and artisanal yet sophisticated clothes. Miner, formerly director of operations at Bode, and Miesmer, a startup and direct-to-consumer brand veteran, have since landed a place on Net-a-Porter’s Vanguard mentorship program, which highlights emerging designers. Interior’s sophomore collection builds on some of the codes established in their debut, while also bringing in historical references to 14th-century armor, 18th-century necklines, and 1930s Schiaparelli.Tailoring and construction are their strong suits. Last season’s statement dress was the Valencia: a knotted column dress made from silk strips with a deep V in the back. This season Valencia is back as a sexier, body-conscious white dress with the strips of fabric like a mummy’s. For fall they introduced an architectural suit; here there’s a cornflower blue suit with the blazer cut so it reveals a triangle of midriff (or whatever shirt you choose to wear underneath). The new Boccaccio jacket—inspired by the film adaptation of Giovanni Boccaccio’sThe Decameron—is a series of sleeves and panels visually held together by ribbons to create an armor-like effect. Unexpected flashes of skin poke through as the wearer moves in the jacket.“We were definitely drawn to this idea of concealing and revealing,” the duo said. “Creating looks that seem demure in stillness or from far away, but in motion or on closer inspection are really quite sexy and a little risqué.” This was exemplified in a standout corseted day dress with a tulip-shaped midiskirt. The stiffness of the corset and the haphazard slouchiness of the sleeves create an alluring contrast. Repeated as an evening dress with a medley of fabrics ranging from an almost holographic nylon to silk linen, the effect is a bit more “Fantine goes to Mars.” Hey, cottagecore is still booming.Another playful look is the pajama suit embellished with produce baubles (they had to do some tight editing on which fruits and vegetables they kept. Sorry, asparagus). If it’s not clear where one would wear this—or how one would comfortably sit in it—the “dinner suit” would add a note of humor and charm to any occasion.Maybe that’s the best way to describe Interior: charming.
The tromp l’oeil chiffon shirt has intentionally off-kilter beaded breasts (for anatomical accuracy, as many chests are asymmetrical), while an otherwise standard black viscose dress is set with 3D ribs in a nod to Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1938 skeleton dress. The finale of the collection is a beaded gladiator skirt that again merges stiffness (and, in this case, physical weight) with sex appeal. Every single piece has a backstory or purpose, which is likely a harbinger of good things to come for the young brand.
29 October 2021