To have something “up one’s sleeve,” means to be keeping something on reserve to pull out at just the right moment. Sharon Wauchob’s stealthy approach to design is loosely aligned with this idea, as her aim is to combine consistency with a sense of surprise. She never relies on tricks to achieve this, however. Everything from the selection of deadstock silks and the one-by-one hand-embroidery of a fall of fringe or a delicate feather is carefully considered. You’d never guess the amount of work that goes into Wauchob’s sensuously easy pieces, in part because, as the designer said on a call, “We don’t often really talk about what we’re doing; we just do.”
One of the things Wauchob and team does best is lingerie and pajama dressing, though the designer is a deft hand at suiting and works with Savile Row tailors. Her mission this season was to try to take “something that’s quite personal and intimate” in a direction that’s more formal, almost to the point of opulence. One of the ways she did this was to use custom made resillé lace to create a shadow blouson with spiral-seams that can be worn alone or over a jacket (as in look 2). “I love the fact that it’s traditional lace, but it doesn’t look what people think about lace,” noted Wauchob. The same might be said of her take on the pajama suit (look 9); sheer track pants with strategic lining, silk hoodie, and lusciously draped sleeves-as-accessories that are an expansion of an idea she introduced for fall 2023. The versatility of these pieces should not be overlooked. Layering is important for Wauchob this fall, but the end goal isn’t warmth, but texture play and color contrasts. One of the ways that she creates dimensionality is through “scrunchies.” For fall these ingenious bands, introduced last season, wrap around the waist of a defined-shoulder, leather-look coat, that is actually made of a glazed silk/cotton/wool fabric in storm cloud gray. They are also attached to the hems of camisoles, some of which layered over bias-cut dresses.
Feathers continue to enliven Wauchob’s design, lending it lightness and movement. A stole made of these avian treasures that can be styled in various ways (trailing or wrapped) is attached to a sharply-cut evening jacket. An abbreviated cami-top that combines plumes and a pouf-like volume is shown with cropped pants and accessorized with masculine-style brogues developed in collaboration with British bespoke shoemaker George Cleverly. Other delights in the collection include jewelry by Joy BC (aka Joy Bonfield–Colombara), a knit tank with chain lariat at the back, and hand-embroidered feather wristlets with button closures, which can be worn alone, over sleeves. T. S. Eliot wrote of the world ending “Not with a bang with a whimper.” In contrast, fashion is finally noticing that Wauchob creates a-ha moments with whispers rather than shouts.
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