Mayiet Releases Resort 2016 Collection

For the women who have cham­pi­oned Maiyet on prin­ci­ple, today was a ban­ner day. Declan Kear­ney, the label’s new cre­ative direc­tor, has made it pos­si­ble to endorse this eth­i­cal brand in prac­tice, i.e., by wear­ing it. Until his appoint­ment ear­li­er this year, Kear­ney was the design direc­tor at Alexan­der Wang, and he brought that street­wise sen­si­bil­i­ty to bear on his debut Maiyet collection.

The brand’s boho DNA remained firm­ly in place; Kear­ney just rewired it, apply­ing arti­sanal touch­es like Indi­an thread embroi­dery and hand-knit­ting to crisp sports­wear looks. Cas­es in point includ­ed a trim shi­bori-dyed tee with a rein­ter­pret­ed Bre­ton stripe, and the col­lec­tion’s ter­rif­ic pea­coat, clas­sic in col­or and shape, which was elab­o­rat­ed by sub­tle metal­lic embroi­dery around the pock­ets. These clothes came off as pleas­ing­ly famil­iar, but there was a sense of hand­made-ness that allowed them to feel novel.

Anoth­er way of break­ing down Kear­ney’s modus operan­di here would be to say that he revis­it­ed var­i­ous nuts-and-bolts pieces from a styl­ish down­town girl’s wardrobe and added a lib­er­al appli­ca­tion of warmth. Some of that was due to the craft elements—not just tra­di­tion­al eth­nic tech­niques, but cou­ture ones, too, like fag­got­ing and fil coupe—and some of that was due to the tac­til­i­ty of the col­lec­tion as a whole. Even a suit of cot­ton-wool twill had an invit­ing nub to it, while the numer­ous items in soft suede, bouclé, or ham­mered satin offered even rich­er textures.

All of which, tak­en togeth­er, plus the pret­ty flo­ral prints and the arti­sanal details and so on, would have made for sen­so­ry over­load were it not for Kear­ney’s tal­ent for sharp, straight­for­ward cuts and his pen­chant for a chillaxed atti­tude. The laid-back vibe was evi­dent even in the line­up’s gowns, which ranged from slen­der, elon­gat­ed tanks in ham­mered satin or flo­ral fil coupe to diaphanous, sun­dress-style maxi dress­es with (huz­zah!) an inter­nal bra top incor­po­rat­ed into the pat­tern. Women with more ample breasts will rejoice. So will all the women who have been aching to sup­port the Maiyet mis­sion and now have some gen­uine­ly cool clothes to choose from, not to men­tion seri­ous­ly nat­ty ranges of shoes and handbags.

Do good, look good. Here’s to that.

Learn more about Maiyet at: www​.maiyet​.com