The final performance of the six-year-old New York fashion brand/art project Puppets & Puppets took place on Monday.
Known as “downtown N.Y. gold,” as Highsnobiety put it, and having the kind of cult following that is meant to be a sign of success, its creator and designer, Carly Mark, had decided it was too difficult and costly to continue creating clothing and trying to establish a business in this city. She informed The New York Times last week that she was heading to London and uprooting her life. From there, she will continue to run her more prosperous and well-established handbag business. But no more fashion shows and runways.
Does it really matter?
In practice, very likely not. It’s not like this is a novel; fashion history is replete with the dead bodies of once-promising businesses that never quite panned out (Miguel Adrover, anyone?). Furthermore, Ms. Mark’s clothing was never very good, despite the fact that she was nominated for a CFDA award for rising designer of the year.
They frequently had strange fits, weren’t really suitable to be termed garments, or didn’t appear to be finished. (Her only real weakness is her love of Edie Sedgwick tights.) They appeared more like unfinished projects. The material could appear quite fragile. As a fine artist by training rather than a designer, Ms. Mark was effectively learning on the fly and in front of an audience. She was improving, though.
Her work this season resembled genuine clothing more than it has in the past, but occasionally just small sections of actual clothing. One large faux fur coat was revealed to be a false front; the other was a peplos dress with one side completely open except for a small tie at the waist. A sort of transportable backdrop was created by the way the hems of some draped jersey skirts and delicate tiny tops looped back up on themselves to form a veil. That, too, had potential; it was like a rusted cocktail dress with holey sweats strapped over lace skirts.
In short, the notion that you can arrive in this city with a huge concept, some self-belief, and some crazy ideas, and then see where it leads. that you can find a community, acknowledgement, and determine your own path. regardless of how disorganized.
It’s the fashion equivalent of the Gatsby promise, and it’s especially powerful in this city where newness has a different value system than tradition. particularly at this time when the major labels that formerly epitomized New York style are vanishing and there’s a tangible need for something new to come up. However, what occurs when the subsequent somethings, such as puppets, give up?
Indeed, there are yet others in the wings. Colleen Allen, a former menswear designer whose debut women’s collection was a study in surprising juxtapositions, is one of the bright new names to watch this season. (Observe a fitted riding jacket that looks just like it belongs in “Bridgerton,” complete with hook-and-eye fastenings made of fleece.) Additionally, check out Diotima, a design by Rachel Scott, a young Jamaican who somehow pulls off seeming oxymorons like sophisticated macramés and stylish crochets.
Yes, the fashion industry is a business, and profits must be realized. But the sometimes illogical trust in reinvention—of style, personality, and career—is what drives it ahead, keeps people coming back, and is at the core of its attractiveness. Everyone loses if we stop holding it to be true.
