Maurice Sendak’s children’s classic “Where the Wild Things Are” has long been fashionable among the milk-and-cookies crowd, and on Sunday Chitose Abe took the monster tale to a new audience with a collection where sleeves sprouted fur, boots stretched to Abominable Snowman proportions, and thick swathes of fabric enveloped models.
“We wanted to take our friends to the wild side, and walk there together,” said Abe, referring to her collaborators at Carhartt, Ugg and J.M. Weston. Abe added that while the collection was heavy on thick fabric and hefty layers, looks could easily be dismantled for the milder months in a world that’s heating up.
As always the outing was fun, with lots of patchwork, exaggerated proportions and different textures that fit together like puzzle pieces.
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Shaggy fur was out in force, as a supersized fluffy scarf worn over an olive corduroy suit; the lining on a brown coat with a ’70s feel, and sprouting from the sleeves of a statement trench, and a black wool suit. Some of the knee-high boots so hairy they resembled Cousin It from “The Addams Family.”
Shearling was everywhere, too, lining stompy, thigh-high boots and hiking shoes, spilling over the front and back of a hooded technical jacket and warming the insides of a chic, chocolate cotton coat with a high collar.
Given the absurdist theme, Abe went wild with proportions, adding big, floppy pockets to workwear pants, giant peplums to sweaters and jackets, and thick, furry hems to skirts.
She stuffed puffer fabric under the backs of tailored cape jackets, and gave knits a 3D spin with chunky flower embroidery in her bid to bring a little fantasy — and heat — to the cold reality of winter.
