“Holiday, as you can see, goes very ‘Fancy,’” said Rebecca Hessel Cohen, gesturing to the racks of beaded minidresses, gilded jeans, and sequined gowns lining LoveShackFancy’s New York showroom overlooking 5th Avenue. This season, Hessel Cohen offered a wide-ranging collection that spans, as she suggested, “Thanksgiving in the British countryside,” to a night out at the Nutcracker, and even “mermaid aquatic dream girl.”
Above all, nostalgia was the name of the game for Hessel Cohen, who looked back on her own fond childhood memories of watching her mother get ready for a night out. The ’90s loomed large, like the green-and-red plaid skirt—LoveShackFancified with rows of crystals lining the pockets. Speaking of which, while customers can expect plenty of the brand’s signature pink, Hessel Cohen is broadening her horizons this season with her darker color palette. “We also have really leaned into the world of reds and greens, which, a few years ago, we didn’t even really do at all,” she said.
Gray is also new territory, taking form in a brushed cashmere coat with a faux-fur collar, a pleated lace-trimmed miniskirt, and a pointelle tank dress. As LoveShack expands to 32 stores this year—from Dubai to Atlanta—Hessel Cohen also hopes to grow its clientele. While the brand seems like it was designed in a lab for Southern sorority girls and Palm Beach teens, Hessel Cohen wants LoveShack to appeal to everyone from mature women to babies. The gray seems to be a direct response to her own evolution. “I think that just felt a little elevated as I’m getting older. I seem to be expanding my more mature palette,” she said. Plus, she added, “It’s seasonless and ageless, too.”
