Inspiration is the fertile ground that forms the creative palette for the fashion designer. Whether that inspiration comes from film, art, dance, travel, food or a sundry of perspectives and insights, if the inspiration is good and serves the signature DNA of the brand well, consumers can expect a well-designed collection.
For fall 2022 Kevan Hall was inspired by the traveling routes between Mali, Morocco and the legendary Tarshish. Travelers and merchants on that historic route would exchange wares, folklore, and handcrafted textiles.
Hall employs the handcrafted textiles that would have been traded along this African trade route to produce a fall 2022 collection that plays heavily on North African fabrics married with gold and bronze metallics. And while this collection is a historical dispensation on fabrications from the Motherland, Hall does not leave this collection there. Hall ingeniously positions this collection in a modern conversation based on silhouettes that any consumer can relate to. In fact, several of the garments in this collection could enter a wardrobe as timeless pieces that could be resurrected for several seasons.
Speaking of silhouettes and design elements, Kevan Hall uses the continuing trend of cutouts almost better than any other fashion designer currently presenting collections. For Hall, cutouts are not just about showing flashes of skin. Cutouts for Hall are about accentuating a women’s curves, her sensuality, and her daring spirit. Never exploiting or sensationalizing a women’s sexiness, just presenting feminine sensuality as a given, bringing it to the fore, and making it more than a titillating moment.
Though we have seen all the silhouettes in this collection before, Hall expertly injected a new spirit and a modernity into the familiar feminine silhouettes of cutouts, fishtail cocktail dresses, one-shoulder dresses, and the classic suit. By incorporating rich jacquards, matelassé, and brocades combined with modern touches, Hall hinted at the orientalism of historic trade routes of Africa and the Middle East without bogging the collection down with cultural references.
Images courtesy of Evan Hall/VERY New York PR
There is something in this collection that would appeal to women at every jointure of their day, and it’s about time that consumers have access to garments that give them a reason to go out and show off their style. And this collection is all about showing off individual style.
Standout looks in this collection include the onyx and pewter double face jersey spine back dress with hanky hemline, the amethyst/copper matelassé side ruffle dance dress, the zebra metallic jacquard asymmetric tuxedo jacket with bootleg pant, and the Tarshish metallic jacquard jacket with passementerie palazzo pant. Look out, fall 2022 is going to be a season of style and panache!!
—William S. Gooch
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