Nicholas K designer Nicholas Kunz found inspiration close to home this season—specifically, it was her recently purchased upstate getaway that did the inspiring. As references go, upstate is a comfortable fit for a brand that has always trafficked in easy-feeling, rugged street wear, and Kunz didn t stretch herself much to accommodate it, mostly limiting the news in the men s and women s clothes she showed today to a nicely judged woodland palette of variegated greens, rusts, and riverine gray-blues. The designer also played around with texture, introducing cozy pieces in black and emerald velvet that looked a little off layered with the rest of the collection s plaids and parkas. (They ll do fine on the sales floor on their own.) A better blend of utilitarian and boho luxe was found in the standout women s outerwear, including a longish black parka and short wrap jacket trimmed with generous heaps of Mongolian lamb fur.
There were two garments this season that, respectively, underlined one of Nicholas K s recurring weaknesses, and epitomized the brand s enduring strength. Kunz has a praiseworthy interest in versatility, and a real respect for the way people adapt clothes to their own ends; when she s on, she translates that into pieces such as this collection s cabled hand knits for men and women, which transformed the workhorse Aran into slouchy cardigans, heavy enough to work as jackets, that zipped at a rakish angle. Those pieces are going to be worn and loved for a long time by the people who buy them. On the other end of the spectrum, there were the skirt-shirts—button-downs retrofitted into skirts, which could also be worn as tops. In that case, Kunz used versatility as a contrivance, a "Look, Ma, no hands!" trick. She s better than that: At heart, Kunz is a detail-driven designer who understands that it s the subtleties of proportion and fit and the cleverly functional elements she adds to her clothes that make them special.
