Kelly Wearstler s name is familiar to shoppers at Bergdorf Goodman. She s the more-is-more interior designer behind the department store s eatery, BG, and the pricey gemstone-studded bauble boxes for sale in the seventh-floor home-furnishings department. Come this summer, when Fall product starts arriving, Bergdorf s will be the exclusive retail outlet for Wearstler s debut lines of ready-to-wear, clutches, and jewelry. She s showing them by appointment in the Soho pied-à-terre of some Texas clients this week, the kind of four-bedroom spread that makes full-time New Yorkers chartreuse with envy. The collections, however, will be nicely priced; the clothes will hang on Bergdorf s fifth floor alongside other contemporary labels.
Wearstler herself is a jeans-and-leather-jacket kind of girl, but her line has a feminine sensibility. It s long on miniskirts, shift dresses, blouses, and little jackets to pop over them. As she does with her interiors, she s mixed prints here, pairing a brushstroke-stripe cropped jacket with a geometric graffiti skirt. And she s included bright pops of coral and turquoise amid the predominantly black and off-white offerings. Wearstler s signature sense of whimsy came across in what she s calling her "friends" print, a line drawing of interlocking people that appeared on silk blouses and was embroidered on a heather gray sweatshirt. Her reputation will be a boon to the business, but the contemporary market is a crowded one, and if she wants to make a real go of it, she ll have to insert more personality into the collection next time. The clutches and costume jewelry, maybe because they re closer to her bread and butter, had a stronger point of view.
