St. John Pre-Fall 2016

Brands are put under tremendous pressure each year to create more and more collections in order to satisfy consumers’ ever-expanding taste for more and more diverse product. And retail stores and boutiques need to satisfy that desire. Instead of the standard three to four collections a year, major fashion brands now create anywhere from six to eight collections with deliveries reaching consumers way ahead of the actual season.

Spring clothes hit the stores as early as mid-January and fall clothes appear on the racks in late June. That said; some brands are delivering pre-fall as early as late April. This accelerated delivery pace is due to retailers needing new product every six weeks, as well as changing weather patterns that produce a growing need from trans-seasonal clothes.

St. John has adapted to these vicissitudes of retail without losing its distinctive signature aesthetic. Where other brands sometimes lose brand identity because of the ever-evolving pace of modern retail, St. John has found a way to incorporate these new directions and excel. Which is surprising for a brand that has been around for over fifty years and has not abandoned its penchant for knits in a market where new textile technologies and trans-seasonal diaphanous fabrics are the order of the day.

St. John creative director Greg Myler drew inspiration for the pre-fall 2016 collection from North Africa. This inspiration is made evident in Arabian tile mosaics and graphic shapes that translated into some ombre effects in the collection or in some great jackets that looked like a modern ‘coat of many colors.’

The unfinished edges of the jackets at first glance might conjure images of Chanel jackets that have been re-imaged ad nauseam; however, at closer examination the unfinished edges are reminiscent of Moroccan woven rugs and cushions. And though this collection is heavy with St. John’s signature knits and sometimes reflects Yves St. Laurent of the 1960s—remember, Yves St. Laurent was Moroccan—Myler’s approach is very current and fits the way modern women live their lives.

—William S. Gooch