Vogue.com

 

PARIS,JUNE 18, 2019

by LUKE LEITCH

 

Swamped by admirers post-show, Heron Preston was asked about the words highs and lows written below his name and that of the season. He said: “Highs and lows? That’s life in New York. The concrete jungle. This collection is based on big-city life.” Fittingly, this was a show crowded with a broad range of collaborative fellow citizens. In partnership with Los Angeles–based Sami Miro there was an upcycled capsule entitled Natural Disaster (brave name) that included a strongly waisted denim dress and organza-like boob tube. Levi’s pitched in with a collaboration entitled Mistakes Are OK (another brave name), in which Preston worked to subvert the codes of the venerable denim brand by misplacing pockets, belt loops, and buttons. The opening suit in quilted white Tyvek was produced in partnership with the architecture practice Dattner, and the artist Robert Nava lent an angel painting that was reproduced on hoodies, denim, T-shirts and a blazer. Plus there was Gore-Tex-treated outerwear (liberally branded with Gore-Tex technical signifiers) in recycled polyester.

 

The unwelcome whale-tail sighting in womenswear apart—seriously, are we going there again?—this was a neatly assembled all-life-is-here cross section of citywear, running from bombers and field jackets in orange nylon cut in with bouclé to bright loose suiting (including a great yellow-cab print on a women’s short suit) and plenty of black nylon pieces that looked collaborative in spirit too. Nava’s illustrations lent an engaging energy to the pieces upon which they were applied, and smokily deconstructed shades of gray camouflage looked good in menswear. You could feel the love in the room for this most personable and positive of young American designers, and there were pieces in this collection for a broad demographic of Preston followers to cherish.

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