Wolk Morais melds Old Hollywood with Fairfax Avenue street style — and adds safety pins for solidarity
Throw equal parts ’30s-era Hollywood glamour and modern-day Fairfax Avenue street style into a blender, pulse enthusiastically, garnish liberally with safety pin jewelry and then pour the concoction onto a runway.
That was the recipe for Wolk Morais’ latest collection, served up Sunday night in a West Hollywood cocktail lounge.
That may sound like an odd place to stage a runway show but for two things: first, the venue in question was Harlowe, a bar that pays homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood, and second, designers Brian Wolk and Claude Morais are known for their enthusiastic embrace of their hometown haunts. The duo’s last collection, for example, was inspired by L.A. nightlife and was presented at Giorgio’s nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in May.
Some of the silks and metallics from that collection were in evidence at Harlowe, with the addition of lots of black velvet. The jumpsuit silhouette that was so prevalent the last time around could be seen in the mix, as could some of the short party dresses. But the predominant silhouette was the floor-length dress, some in lamé (gold or leopard) with ruffle details, others in white bias cut silk crepe (with slit sleeves) or back metallic waxed twill (with pleated leopard lamé sleeves) or black silk crepe (with Swarovski-crystal-embellished collar and cuffs).
Standout pieces included a burgundy silk cowl front dress and a black silk velvet bias cut dress with a white crepe collar and a floral metallic jacquard chiffon side-tucked dress.
“The inspiration for the collection was pre-code Hollywood films — from 1929 to 1934 when there were no restrictions on filmmaking,” Wolk said after the show, “and these amazing, bold women.”
As Morais explained, the appeal of the era lay in its simplicity. “The idea of [a woman] just jumping into a dress and going out,” he said.
“We wanted to mix that with the idea of Fairfax street [style],” Wolk added. “The great thing about Fairfax is that they have this great sense of doing things big, bold and strong.”
The street details included a gold, interlocking MW monogram (the brand’s first stab at a logo) embroidered in a range of sizes on the front of knit caps, the left breast of on-trend bomber jackets (one of the few men’s pieces in the 24-look show) and on rich velvet hoodies. The most memorable manifestations of the monogram could be seen in the two silk crepe, floor-length dresses with large logos at the front of each thigh, the arms of each W extending diagonally toward the navel. Smaller versions of the interlocking logo were rendered in allover gold embroidery on the dresses’ short sleeves.
“We worked with an embroiderer who usually does baseball caps and sweatshirts and has a shop on Melrose,” Wolk said. “And we used to do all our embroideries in India but we wanted to do it in L.A. We wanted to design it here, make it here and be inspired here. … The exaggeration of the logo was really exciting to us; it felt fresh again. I kind of love the idea of this blatant display of fabulousness. And that’s what it was all about — boldness and being free.”
The collection 4 runway show (in an effort to be seasonless, the brand avoids the traditional “fall/winter” and “spring/summer” labels) also marked the debut of Wolk Morais’ first jewelry collection, which consisted mostly of gold chain-link necklaces that were as varied as delicate chokers and chunky strands that dangled past the knees of the models and swung back and forth with each step.
As eye-catching as the necklaces were, the standout pieces were outsized gold safety pins that adorned many of the looks.
That’s because, in the days after the presidential election on Nov. 8, the wearing of a safety pin has emerged as a way of showing support for the groups — immigrants, Muslims and gays among them — who feel particularly threatened by President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. (Essentially shorthand for: “I’m a safe ally,” the safety pin as this sort of symbol of solidarity apparently started as a response to violence and xenophobia in the post-Brexit-vote United Kingdom before crossing the pond.)
“We wanted to show that we’re safe and we wanted to let people know this is a safe place,” said Wolk, gesturing to the room around him.
Morais then chimed in, “We want to protect what we all have as Americans, our rights, being gay, being LGBT … [the right to have an] abortion, [the rights of] women.”
Though the designers were effusive about the partners who worked with them to stage the runway show (including liquor sponsor Drambuie and the marketing group Visit WeHo), they explained that Paul Mitchell’s team helped them overcome the biggest obstacle of achieving the ’30s-meets-the-street vibe.
“We had everybody in bangs,” Wolk said. “Which was a real hair triumph because none of those girls really had bangs [when we started]. So that was pretty amazing.”
For more musings on all things fashion and style, follow me @ARTschorn.
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