“It was about how I could make an understanding of 25 years where you change it all the time.” So Lee Mathews of his resort 2026 collection said, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of his name label. It was actually a lineup filled with her classic silhouette: careless and elegant, excessive female, architectural and romantic, but never delicate. It is a balanced act, and Mathews pulled it again this season. He said, “The kind of woman I am usually thinking – she is not delicate; so clothes can be delicate and beautiful, but they require personality; the clothes are extended by the real person’s personality,” she explained. This track jacket and long board shorts came into a blurred blouse and maxi-skirt.
In this season, Mathews collaborated with artist Nina Walton, who made hand-painted plaids and a wonderful brushstroke-splotted polka dot, appearing on a simple asymmetrical dress with a creator. Matthews said, “I was given one of her pieces as a birthday – an important birthday, okay? A milestone – and then I thought this woman does beautiful things, I would like to be in touch.” “So now we are friends.”
The movement was a strong component of offering this season, and while some light and ventilated clothes, such as cotton used for an A-line blouse, were uncontrolled and swept away with each step, others were raised up and down. The Hoop skirt is an idea that may seem to be a costume-Y in almost someone else’s hands, but here they looked modernly modern. Matthews collaborated with Renta Breenha on her design. “I think it’s a piece of foundation and showing it,” Matthews said. “The piece of trial became its own piece, we never made another one.”
In fact, in the collection, the white and off-white pieces come down to how much he appreciated the toiles because they were being made. “I love at the beginning of a collection when there is a whole rail full of white things, cream things, things that are made half and you just think, wow it would not be good to do it just once? So we did it.”
