For fall, Apis Apart designers Star Haute and Laura Kramer looked to the streets of New York City for inspiration. The duo took inspiration from the shapes and colors worn by women around their studio, and found creativity in their effortless silhouettes and sleek mix-and-matches. “We love seeing our clothes in the woods,” Cramer said. “If we can’t see it on the streets and on the women of New York, it means nothing to us.”
Modern wardrobe staples are what Apes Apart is built on. Rather than reinvent the wheel every season, Cramer and Hout focus on updating their core silhouettes—a luxurious wool coat, a perfect barrel-shaped jean—and introducing them in new treatments. This season, the earthy color palette—consisting of moss, merlot, black, and pops of denim—was inspired by the recent Cecily Brown show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “She’s one of our strong female muscles,” Hout said. You can see that play of colors look like a cherry-red crewneck sweater with khaki-brown tapered trousers, or a billowy maxi dress in a tri-tone floral print.
The designers also focused on pieces that could be worn more than one way. For example, the button-up cardigan was styled asymmetrically and off-kilter—like a cozy shrug that could be worn with loose black dress pants for night out. The same is the case for the extra-long beige sweater, which can be worn as a dress and layered over a dressy pair of cigarette pants. “We’re always thinking about ways you can pull off our clothes from nine in the morning to nine at night,” Hout said, “playing on the tension between new shapes, ideas and proportions.” The result is clothes you can actually wear – investment type pieces where you can get out of bed, still look put together, and no one will be the wiser.
