Judy Turner (Q4869)
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Judy Turner is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Judy Turner |
Judy Turner is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
A few seasons ago, we calledConley Averett New York’s most successful one-man show. However, this season he’s no longer just one man and instead has an intimate team of close friends and employees including Julian Paik who are helping him get through the ups and downs of being an independent designer in New York City. This was evident in his energy at an appointment: He was calm, cool, and collected due to his satisfaction with his fall 2024 collection. “I’ve gotten out of this frantic mode,” said Averett. “If I was going to give one piece of advice to anyone starting, it’s that you cannot do it all yourself.”This collection was also one of the first that Averett expressed confidence in. He’s now got the hang of balancing his creativity and commerciality, which showed in stellar pieces like a combination coat boasting a knit panel detail on the sides for the illusion of shape. Despite the simplicity of this addition, you can be assured that Averett’s knits are top-notch thanks to his day job at Khaite. A cardigan had the illusion of a fringed trim collar reminiscent of Penny Lane’s iconic coat inAlmost Famous: Averett is hoping it will become a staple piece moving forward.The designer also revisited the bubble skirt he teased two seasons ago, which he has now perfected so that it even keeps its shape on the hanger, ideal for department store shoppers who don’t want to constantly reference Vogue Runway to see how it looks on a model. “At the end of the season, every designer is tired of their work,” said Averett. “But time has passed since I finished this collection, and I’m still pleased, you know?”
9 February 2024
Conley Averett is rethinking his business model. He’s back after a season in Paris and has hired Julian Paik, a retail consultant for brands like Commission, Luar, HommeGirls, to help with his sales strategy, which he admits he didn’t have before. If last season he struggled with the balance between creativity and commerciality, this season he’s reigning in, making a collection that is wearable and can sell in the market. “As a one-person brand, you can’t constantly introduce new ideas. So a lot of this is collected from older seasons,” said Averett. “For a brand, there must be trial and error. You have to have some failures along the way and some successes to make sure you learn how to listen to yourself more.”Unlike previous seasons, where Averett opted for moodier look books, he shot images in a brightly lit space to showcase his clothing more visibly. He hopes this will help with seeing his pieces more clearly for styling and buying purposes. Elevated and well-thought-out basics were some of his goals for the season. His signature crochet-knit pieces were intentionally thicker at the bust and bum area and sheer everywhere else, making them more wearable for the everyday. The tanks, which may look simple from the images, were made of luxe silk, making them easy and breezy for spring.Some new items included cargo pants and accessories. Two styles of cargos were introduced, one in a coated cotton fabric and another in 100% cotton. Averett also created two versions of mini bucket bags using the same fabrics as the pants. Another new item to add to the list of accessories that Judy Turner now makes is crochet belts that can be layered over basics for a statement look. Averett said, “It’s like little pieces of the brand that you can take with you or work into your wardrobe.”
13 September 2023
In his Paris showroom this past June, Judy Turner’s Conley Averett appeared to be at a crossroads.It wasn’t that he was melancholy. Rather, he seemed to be pondering the thing that all ascendant designers must tackle: creativity versus commerciality. Sadly, it can’t be all of the former and none of the latter–Averett mentioned that he was feeling the weight of needing to appease broader retailer and client appetites as Judy Turner becomes more established.Knits are his forte, and they remained so in this collection. A chunky-knit cardigan was a standout, featuring a new checkered tab motif that carried over to an unstructured bucket hat.Otherwise, crinkled and shiny separates added technicality and some dynamism, but a bandeau skirt with diamond paneling leading to a kind of multi-mermaid tail hemline was awkward in appearance, and a blue-green dress with a deep-U cutout down the back didn’t feel like it had much in the way of Averett’s proven cleverness. He has some pondering left to do.
17 July 2023
Conley Averett is New York’s most successful one-man show. Despite 2022 being one of Judy Turner’s biggest years to date, he still has his day job at Khaite and is working from the same warmly lit, cozy studiospacein Tribeca. “When I first started doing the Fashion Fund, people began to visit, and I noticed that my space has a neighborhood feel that people are very attracted to,” said Averett. For his fall presentation, he opened up his small haven for an intimate preview of the collection.Knitwearis the DNA of the Judy Turner brand. Past collections incorporated very experimental moments with knit and crochet that showcased Averett’s range as a designer and included pattern work and mesh, which all translated welleditorially. But this season, Averett took a step back from the experimental and went toward the fundamental. “People really expected me to be a knitwear brand and to only stay in that lane, so this time I’ve pushed myself to add in trousers and coats in a way that makes sense with the rest of my pieces,” he said. Simple yet essential corduroy and wool trousers were tailored and cut to a length wearable for the everyday person. It helped that they were less sheer, while faux-fur coats (made of teddy-bear fabrics imported from Germany) included a subtle turtleneck knit detail for extra warmth. “The overall collection was just about inventing who our customer is and what that person is doing and wearing during the day when they are at home, as opposed to what they would have worn to a vacation or a party,” said Averett.But experimentation was not lacking from this collection. If Averett played with colors and patterns beforehand, he explored different silhouettes and styling this season. “How can I present a cohesive collection that provides a look and can sell to the customer?” said the designer. A ruffled knit tunic was expertly styled with a complementary sweater from the collection that lent desirability to the entire look, not just to one item or the other. Warm-toned brown trousers were paired with red tanks for an eye-catching but comfortable color combination, while cooler blues and beiges went together in a way that was understated yet captivating, much like Averett’s studio.
13 February 2023
It was worth the month-plus wait post-New York Fashion Week to see Conley Averett’s new collection for Judy Turner. Averett has returned to his knitwear label’s raison d’etre, which is to evoke a person’s glam alter ego. For those unfamiliar, he named the label after the holy grail of megawatt Old Hollywood actors: Lana Turner and Judy Garland.For pre-fall, Averett leaned into special event-wear, starting with a few intricately spun dresses that slinkily hug the body with strategic peekaboos. Cleverly, he added knit underwear and a bandeau top to the mix for wearing underneath the body-baring pieces.It’s great to see Averett go back to his maximalist roots. Over the past few seasons, he added simple knit sweaters to his offerings, but that isn’t necessarily where he shines. With the knit category booming, Judy Turner needs to stand out, which is something Averett now understands. “I had made all sorts of commercial sweaters and tried this and that,” he said. “After you’ve been doing it a few years, you want to get more focused on things that drive you.”The season’s standout pieces have already had some success. Flipping through the lookbook, there was a killer pair of knit leggings, a regal take on the fishnet that is now thicker and more chaotically webbed. Unfortunately, they weren’t present at a preview; someone had already scooped them up to wear to a wedding—a happily-ever-after story for one lucky friend of the brand.
7 November 2022
Conley Averett of New York label Judy Turner has grown his menswear label into a full-blown womenswear collection. That progression was natural: He began by offering up classic yet saucy bold print knitwear that everyone, not just men, could wear. The actual womenswear launch of Spring 2021 happened when Averett was locked down at home. Fast forward, the second edition of his womenswear is impressive. The clothes are quite beautiful and seductive. Knitwear has become a trend du jour among young designers, but what separates Averett from the hyped-about-yarn pack is that he understands silhouettes and how knits should fall on the body. Averett can make yarn sexy. A key piece was a knit skirt that came low slung, dotted with sequins, with bohemian tassels hanging from it. It’s the type of piece that would have been worn by a devil-may-care actress on a late ’90s or early ’00s red carpet.Beyond a knit, Averett is also looking into more elegant silhouettes and trying new materials. One example was a cream jersey dress that clung to the body, with its twisted straps tracing the back. And while Averett is expanding his range of pieces and materials, he didn’t forget the label’s classics. Diehard Judy fans will fawn over his gritty patchwork pants, which are now in tones of greens and have a cute, kicky flair. The signature barely-there featherweight tank top was back again, this time hacked right below the chest with an asymmetrical strap. A stunning version of the tank top was transformed into an incredibly slinky and clingy dress. Best part? Time at home has given Averett a dedicated moment to retool what he already has, quite literally: He reused all of the leftover yarns from previous collections.
8 March 2021
For about a year now, people have been gravitating toward Judy Turner’s butter-soft knits for men. Designer Conley Averett churns out pieces like tank tops so deeply cut at the arms, they can accidentally expose a nipple (saucy!) and cushy cream zip-ups with ever-so-slightly puffed sleeves. He’s built his brand on elevating the essentials, and it’s all homegrown: Everything is made by very skilled older Russians in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.To preview his spring 2020 collection, Averett did one-on-one appointments in the backyard of a small candle shop in the West Village. He took his time during lockdown to do some deep thinking about the clothes. Women already wear his pieces, so why not make them even more unisex? A black crocheted dress that skims the body with two high slits was indicative of his new train of thought. Another standout was a long blue viscose dress that wrapped around the shoulder with a severely cut back. “A lot of it was sitting by my window at night when it was dead quiet,” he says. “It was really fantasizing about these creatures. It was what I saw moving in the night when the streets were super still.” Of course, there were also pieces to keep the original Judy Turner customer coming back, like a knit T-shirt and strappy tanks with minimalist Helmut Lang vibes. Basics, but important ones at that.
16 September 2020