“I don’t want it to feel like every season there’s a new story; I want it to feel like one cohesive thread,” the designer tells AnOther of his Autumn/Winter 2022 collection, unveiled yesterday in New York
Last season, Peter Do made an emotional runway debut in New York. Set along the East River, with the city’s skyline providing the backdrop, the show reflected on ideas of home – Do’s roots are in Vietnam, but his brand’s home is in NYC. It was a momentous arrival which the Celine alum had been working towards for three years. This season, though, marks Do’s “most personal collection to date,” the designer writes in the show’s notes, stating, “I found my power in these garments.”
Titled Foundation, the show laid the groundwork for the house Do intends to build at his namesake label. The shrewdly-edited offering of just 36 looks honed in on the raw codes of the brand: exquisitely-made, classic pieces crafted with a contemporary approach. In a restrained colour palette of neutral tones and signature fabrics – wool, cotton, cashmere, silk, and shearling – the collection focussed on versatility, with many pieces designed to have several functions, such as deconstructable harness bags, reversible double face coats, and trench-style scarves which could be worn as tops. Do honed in on his hallmark silhouettes, from beautiful colour block tailoring and pleated skirts to billowing, deftly-cut outerwear.
Eschewing novelty for a granular attention to form and detail, the collection was crafted with the experience of the wearer in total focus. It was, the designer tells AnOther, an ode to the Peter Do woman. Here, in a conversation held in the run-up to his show, Do tells the story of his Autumn/Winter 2022 collection:
“We held a runway show for the first time last season, and to be honest, we didn’t really know what we were doing. This time I feel a lot more prepared, but I also feel more pressure. I feel like the feedback is, ‘How can you top last season? How can you make it better?’ I’m trying to centre and focus, and not think too much about that.
“[With] my Spring/Summer 2022 show, I was feeling nostalgic about the past – where my parents came from and memories of us or us growing up in Vietnam. But this season, I named the collection Foundation because I feel like it’s just the beginning for Peter Do building our house in New York. Last season felt like our coming out, but moving forward into 2022 we are saying, ‘This is the language of the Peter Do world.’ These pieces are, hopefully, more fashion-forward and special.
“There isn’t a theme for the collection. I’m not the kind of designer who likes to seek out a destination to design. It always starts with, ‘What do we need? Why should we make this? What are we trying to say?’ It’s more about that. I don’t want it to feel like every season there’s a new story; I want it to feel like one cohesive thread. This collection builds on everything we’re known for. There’s a focus on the idea of convertibility so that you can play with your clothes. There’s a lot of tailoring; we’re perfecting our tailoring every season, and the fabric gets lighter but doesn’t lose its structure. There’s a lot of interesting layering, because I love a dialogue between the person and their clothes, and I’ve always liked clothes to be built to have more options, so you can wear your pieces more often.
“This season I wanted to be a little bit selfish because camel, grey, black and white are my favourite colours. When I think about it like a classic wardrobe, it’s these colours, and it’s a palette you can wear all the time. We usually do 46 looks, but this season we edited down to 36 because I took out the ten looks that I feel like I usually just put in for sales. I just really wanted the message to be more focussed. For me it’s more important to make things that feel like they come from one world.
“I hope people feel empowered [in my designs], I feel like clothing has that power for sure. When you don’t feel the best, it can transform how you feel. I think that’s the power of clothing that I really love, which is why it’s important for me for clothes to be wearable; to function.
“You don’t have to be constantly seeking out newness when you buy a thing that you really love, it always feels like it’s there for you. That’s alway my philosophy when I design: that things have to be special but also have to serve a purpose. I don’t like to make things that you will wear once, I love an outfit repeater. I think the PD woman is definitely an outfit repeater. She’s wearing things to death. And I love that.”