New York’s Christopher John Rogers is sticking with the one-show-a-year plan; we’ll have to wait until September to see his colorful clothes on the runway again. In a season dominated by the color black, his exuberant palette was sorely missed, a fact that came to mind when his fluorescent pink jacket from a pre-fall collection a few years back was spotted in the wild at the Paris shows.
There’s no going unnoticed in Rogers’s clothes, and that goes for the denim he focused on here as much as it does for his signature striped knits. “I like things that are special, that feel painted, but you can obviously wear them, they’re super-easy,” he said. Starting with black denim, Rogers bleached it, over-dyed it, and then hand-sanded it. That’s a lot of work, and it showed in the rich ombréd look of his boot-cut flares and jackets. On other styles he skipped the over-dyeing, but added his familiar gradient dot patterns.
The dressier end of his fall offering was distinguished by its bows, ribbons, and ruffles. Rogers is drawn to Pierrot clowns, John Chamberlain’s car sculptures, and the Muppets. No one’s ever accused him of being a minimalist, but a deep red halter dress with crushed bows at the neckline and hip was an elegant, understated charmer, ditto a sleeveless bias-cut column in an abstracted black-and-white floral print with a matching fabric corsage tied around the neck.
On the knits front, the most promising development was the addition of easy-fit long-sleeve polo sweaters. At a moment when American prep has emerged as a lasting trend, even in European capitals, Rogers should continue capitalizing on his roots. At the end of a multi-week fashion show marathon, his three-piece set—wrap sweater, jog pant, and ankle-length cardigan—looked tempting too.