Wednesday’s summer solstice marks the official first day of summer, marking the return of “Hot Girl Summer,” or rather “Brat Summer.”
The viral new anti-establishment summer slogan, popularized by Charli XCX’s latest album, leans into subversion, even across wardrobing, which Piotrek Panszczyk consistently references throughout his Area collections.
“We always think about subcultures and fashion. Taking things that are very classic and turning them on its head, and making them part of the look as well,” Panszczyk said. For pre-fall, he amplified this idea by blending opposites.
First, he brought back the brand’s signature heart motif and whipped it into feminine meets tough, broaderie anglaise-like, laser-cut, double-bonded leather frilled and tiered dresses, skirts, tube tops and perfecto jackets in slick black and lipstick red with exaggerated leather newsboy caps, chunky jewelry and leather fishnet “chaps.” Panszczyk said the collection was inspired by the ’80s, not only for its biker jackets but stylistically, nodding to “Madonna, Fluff Kids or Leather Gays — people that interpreted the idea of a biker in a lot of different ways, treating it as a fetish or cosplay.”
The inspiration naturally stemmed into suiting, mixing ’80s French tailoring with giant, structured blazers, modern pedal pushers and tuxedo corsages. Here, the carnation decorations were crafted of raw cut satin and tailoring wool with hand-cut, delicate flowers.
Those flowers were then translated into denim — a program the brand keeps evolving following Taylor Swift’s Chief’s game appearances in the brand, which caused them to sell out of their crystal cut-off shorts. Newness in this category came through cigarette-meets-skinny jeans; moto jackets; minidresses and platform shoes with 3D floral corsages.
There were also new denim ensembles made up of chain-linked hearts (an extension of the intarsia-meets-patchwork technique the brand used throughout their googly eye-filled spring collection); covered in micro custom drop crystal hearts, or printed in bright, bold “80s house music prints.” Said prints were a blend of inspirations — ’70s Ken Scott lavish floral prints meets Saint Laurent’s graphic heart print — and also translated into body-con Lycra fabrics.
Coming full circle with signature Area ideas, Panszczyk rounded out the transitional summer-into-fall collection (which is currently available for purchase) by bringing back the brand’s original little ruched dresses.
“For resort, we wanted to translate that into something more chill, playing with super-fine, light jerseys that we ruched and patched over with big brass jewelry hearts. You get the bodycon sexiness, but also with the idea of softness and femininity,” he said.
Sexy, bold and playful — the codes of a strong summer wardrobe.