Ecouterre

Assembly New York debuted its minimalist, menswear-inspired womenswear collection in an equally no-frills Lower East Side space for New York Fashion Week. Designers Greg Armas and Claire Lampert filled their Fall/Winter 2012 collection with androgynous looks and simple silhouettes paired with pulled-back hair and minimal makeup. High-waisted pants, simply cut sweaters, and floor-length trench coats made up the bulk of the designs, and we found most of the line to be timeless and accessible. We especially loved the organic, hand-dyed denim and vintage shoes, and from a decor standpoint, the terrariums that peppered the space. “All design and production is done in the basement,” Nicole, a sales and projects associate at the store tells Ecouterre. You can’t get much more local than that! Check back later for our full review.

+ Assembly New York

Nike is linking arms with DyeCoo Textile Systems, the Netherlands-based company that built the first commercial waterless textile-dyeing machine, an announcement notes on Tuesday. The agua-free technology imbues a pressurized form of carbon dioxide with liquid-like properties, allowing it to penetrate textile fibers and disperse preloaded dyes without extra chemical agents. Once the dyeing cycle is complete, the CO2 is gasified to recover the excess dye before cycling back into the dyeing vessel for reuse—no muss, no fuss, and with far less energy than conventional methods.

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Photos by Amanda Coen for Ecouterre

Gretchen Jones is in a dark place, both figuratively and literally. There’s the cavernous, dimly lit interior of Root Drive-In in Chelsea, for one, which sets the stage for her Fall/Winter 2012 collection at New York Fashion Week. But the New York designer (and Season 8 Project Runway winner) is also mourning the recent loss of her father, Robert, whom Jones credits for shaping the woman she is today. Holding court on the periphery of a charcoal-drawn medicine wheel, the models bathe in light and shadow as if suspended between planes of existence. Jones’s Southwestern roots run deep, from the basket-weave textures to the digital ikat prints, all produced in the United States. Check back later for a full review.

+ Gretchen Jones

Photos by Amanda Coen for Ecouterre

John Patrick of Organic doesn’t usually identify his collections with one specific moment or image. He credits his Fall/Winter 2012 collection, however, to the work of 19th century British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, in particular “A Beautiful Vision, Julia Duckworth,” a carbon print of Cameron’s niece and goddaughter and the future mother of author Virginia Woolf. Presented at New York Fashion Week on Wednesday morning, the lineup of voluminous wool-herringbone watchcoats, digitally printed silk dresses, biodegradable Cupro quilted vests, hand-loomed cashmere jumpers, and double-faced vegetable-tanned leather-on-leather ensembles showed Patrick at top form. “I can still continue to horrify vegans,” he tells Ecouterre of his latter choice. Check back later for a full review.

+ Organic by John Patrick