Tucked away in a blissfully air-conditioned atelier on a quiet street on the Upper East Side, Isabel Wilkinson Schor is constantly pondering what comes next in the future of American sportswear. But this season, instead of explicitly looking forward, the designer took a nostalgic glance back. The collection began with an assortment of images by photographer Trevor Hughes, whose bike-messenger series in 1990s Toronto captured an innate understanding of styling. Partly born from athletic and functional necessity, and partly from pure inherent fashion, such as a zip-up minidress styled over bike shorts, Hughes’s messengers captured what so many are trying to chase, becoming the basis for Attersee’s spring collection.
Within, there were sly nods to what the bike messengers would be delivering, like a plaid office paper pattern in the yellow and pink of carbon-copy sheets (remember those?), pleated and fastened by “binder clip”-inspired grommets. Also in the same literal vein were viscose cyclist tops with ever so slight mock necks and elbow-length sleeves. Don a cinched micro bouclé blazer and matching trousers and the item’s sporty nature would transform into stylish officewear. This shape carried through to a maxidress version of the cyclist’s top in black and navy with contrasting white piping.
More subtle was the technical satin, as seen in items including an A-line skirt and powder pink pants. Similar textile know-how was flexed through a semisheer champagne nylon-silk matching set inspired by Anni Albers and Otti Berger’s cellophane-chenille invention during the Bauhaus period. Still, the most fun was a series of squiggly blue and white pieces that mimicked the print of a reusable shopping bag.