Ann Yee Fall 2014

For fall 2014 Ann Yee experimented with the concept of the urban nomad. And this season the experiment paid off. Unlike last spring 2014 where Yee looked to her native town of Detroit’s crumbling infrastructure and urban blight, this season Yee plunged into the idea of finding the balance between multi-culturism as seen through the prism of the highly active city dweller.

While last season’s outing, though conceptually viable and a well-merited attempt, at times the collection seemed weighted down with a dull kaleidoscope of colors that rendered the collection somewhat pedestrian. This season Yee upped her game. And though the collection was a palette of neutrals and muted colors, Yee through her construction and perspective masterfully created a collection that was youthful, easy and retail friendly.

 As always, Yee combined a mix of textures and silhouettes from asymmetrical cuts and other architectural shapes to faux fur and chunky knitwear to jersey basics and tweed.  Under the hand of a lesser skilled artisan, this amalgam of different silhouettes, textures and fabrics could have turned into a mélange of disjointed, misshapen student work. However, in this outing Yee’s mastery and mien for architectural structure really worked, enabling her to create a collection that was both modern, wearable and fashion forward.

Standouts in this collection were the jacquard bomber with houndstooth sweater, felted-triple collar pollo and faux fur skirt, tweed blazer with mixed media top, felted skirt and faux fur hat, and lastly the dropstich cardigan, dropstitch dress, faux fur cuffs and faux fur hat.

—William S. Gooch