THE NEW YORK DESIGNER MERGES HIS WORKWEAR AESTHETIC WITH LUXURY MATERIALS AND TODAY’S ‘INFLUENCER CULTURE’
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NEW YORK DESIGNER Heron Preston’s third womenswear/menswear collection — created for fall/winter 2018 — is called “Public Figure,” an aesthetic riff on influencer culture and self-declared celebrity.
Preston says he decided to play with observations of his surroundings on the “influencer jet stream,” a term for the highly attended cultural churn of annual events, from Art Basel in Miami Beach to global fashion weeks. A list of such events is printed on a shirt in the collection, beneath a sparkling crystal globe.
Today, “Public Figure” is a title you can choose on Instagram, and the patterns and proclamations of these “Public Figures” are seen in the details of Preston’s fall/winter 2018 collection.
Graphics bestow pseudo-titles like “Influencer,” meant to be worn and made visible in a meta-context.
The labels appear across the front of camouflage pants, denim jackets and polos. “If you buy a polo from Heron Preston,- you are an influencer,” the designer jokes. “Who is to argue that?”
For fall/winter 2018, Preston merges his workwear aesthetic with luxury materials, introducing a range of accessories, including handbags, footwear and eyewear. The first Heron Preston handbag, the Canal Bag, is a dual flap shoulder bag with snakeskin and calf hair, designed with two pockets and a bright orange branded strap. The brand’s eye-catching orange tab has “Pull” playfully printed on it. A construction-inspired thick sole boot comes in snakeskin, black and camouflage-printed leather, with the “Style” logo in red.
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Womenswear offerings include a snakeskin leather dress, crushed velvet bodysuits and, for the first time, suits, with a two-tone oversize blazer and skirt.
The collection marks the debut of Heron Preston’s NASA theme, an idea the designer teased in December 2013 in a The New York Times headlined, “The Street Wear Designer Heron Preston Has His Eyes on NASA.”
The Preston NASA capsule collection uses the agency’s authentic 1975 logo, with the acronym “NASA” in a typeface known as the “worm.” NASA discontinued it in 1992.
Inspired by the outer layer of space suits, Preston interprets the uniform in a 3M nylon space jacket, a silver denim logo jacket and a multi-functional convertible backpack (which also can be worn as a fanny pack or tote bag).
Finally, Preston introduces a new collaboration with Carhartt WIP. Early in his career, Preston reworked vintage Carhartt WIP jackets for his website, and the brand’s iconic canvas workwear remains essential to Preston’s DNA. The new collection combines the classic canvas with Preston’s crystal “СТИЛЬ” logo, a high-fashion stamp on utilitarian garments.
The collaboration includes a fanny pack, beanie, jacket, vest and pants, all treated and paint splattered and accented with Preston’s signature orange trim. The look reflects the designer’s devotion to workwear as functional protective layers.
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