For a second final 12 months, the web was overrun by a pattern dubbed “tomato lady summer time.” Cosplaying an Italian trip warranted a whole model of gown crammed with cotton poplin, tomato crimson, gingham, and raffia. Chelsea Hansford, the artistic director and CEO of Simon Miller, adopted related inspiration for her spring 2024 assortment, which she known as Within the Kitchen. (When requested in regards to the tomato lady pattern, Hansford mentioned, “Is that developing? I haven’t heard of that.”) The marketing campaign, starring Angela Lindvall, was deeply narrative pushed. “I imagined this Tuscan property, the place she reaped her land to prepare dinner this extravagant meal,” Hansford mentioned. Even when haunted by the ghosts of microtrends previous, the Simon Miller ethos nonetheless match proper right into a carefree Italian summer time, from the gingham tunic over matching pants to the fringed-hemmed knit gown in brilliant colours and neutrals alike.
Hansford is working on a see-now-buy-now schedule, making her conscious about her funky coastal clients’ upcoming actions—although it does deviate a bit from the unique transient. “We’ve got an enormous pageant season enterprise, particularly right here in L.A.,” she mentioned. “We do a drop solely for that.” It’s a sensible enterprise transfer: Whereas the standard Simon Miller buyer is an elder millennial, pageant season opens the model as much as a youthful demographic. Therefore the mesh shibori T-shirts that might belong extra on the Coachella fairgrounds than in a Tuscan kitchen.
Simon Miller is at its greatest when it stays near its DNA, even when constructing off present items from previous seasons. The cotton poplin shirtdress with the open-back panel and waist-cinching tie added selection to a traditional closet staple, as did the crocheted minidress, which well performed off the label’s best-selling Beep Beep gown. Hansford clearly has a really robust sense of name identification, even when she chooses to divert from her artistic imaginative and prescient to serve it.
