Anyone who doubts the power of the runway only has to look to Peter Do to be proven wrong.
After his first show in September, with the New York skyline as the backdrop for a collection reflecting on his Vietnamese family’s immigrant experience and the promise of opportunity in the fashion industry, sales of his brand doubled.
“It was a nice moment,” Do said during an interview at his studio in Industry City. “Last year, we opened 12 doors in China, and every season it’s building as we’re getting more feedback from customers and stores. Because the end goal for me is for people to wear the product. Otherwise, what’s the point? There needs to be a function and a why.”
Showing fall at Genesis House, a cultural hub and showroom for the Korean luxury electric car brand Genesis, Do proved he is a next-gen New York luxury utility player by reasserting beautiful tailoring as the cornerstone of his brand.
“They came to us and they had this cool space where the entire room is a screen, so it was a good environment to elevate this everyday moment,” he explained of the in-the-round staging, with color and light effects highlighting his sharp and sensual cuts.
Titled “Foundations,” and rendered in black and neutral colors, the 36 looks were new classics — long, pleated double-belted skirts with a punk spirit; tidy cropped wool trousers; wide-leg or barrel-shaped denim with single-leg slashes or black-and-white colorblocking, and oversize coats reversible from leather to shearling and wool to padded silk.
Evening was equally modern looking — black sequins bonded onto Neoprene, cut into a dress, pants and overcoat as soft inside as your favorite sweatpants.
The hero pieces were extra-long scarves, like stand-alone lapels draped almost to the floor. They came in a variety of colors and materials, including leather and shearling.
He expanded accessories offerings with multiple sizes of his squishy dumpling bag, and a new harness bag that is his answer to the ubiquitous backpack, worn across the shoulders with a leather compartment on each side.
Do is one of the few New York designers, who is really thinking about innovation and by streamlining and editing this season, he communicated his brand message that much more clearly.
“My ultimate goal is to build a U.S. fashion house. When I worked at Celine, I had this vision of having an atelier in New York where people are proud to work as pattern-makers and -cutters, and where they can come to learn the craft,” he said, sharing that it would be in DUMBO by the water.
He has other dreams in the making, too. Pointing to a board covered in tiny outfit photos, he mused about creating his version of Donna Karan’s Seven Easy Pieces.
“We took two days and 18 pieces, and I think we styled them 450 ways,” he said, sharing that he’d like to do a pop-up where people can come and play with the clothes.
“It’s a new way to think about wardrobe, to just buy a few things to reenergize, and not constantly seek out newness all the time,” he said. “The PD woman is an outfit repeater.”