Rachel Comey came up with a brand new category this season: the sweater you gift to your husband that you wind up stealing. Actually, let’s correct that, you buy it in order to steal it. Said sweater could be a crewneck or a cardigan. For fall, Comey had both in different shades of donegal tweed. Just don’t tell the hubbie you scooped up the matching knit skirt when you offer him his present.
There’s a 25th anniversary on the calendar this year for Comey. Fashion is a serious business, but she knows how to have her fun—a fact that was made clear over and over again here, whether with the kittenish quilted bed jacket or the blouson sleeve top and skirt set in a naive cat print; with the color-blocked double-face wool western shirts or the roomy cotton twill pirate pants. Yes, you can successfully find a black trouser suit of a minimalist stripe here, but you’ll also discover a little blue Jackie Kennedy skirt suit complete with a scalloped hem.
Shearling and the return of real fur were big stories at New York fashion week, in the showrooms and on the streets. Comey’s shaved shearlings have become standbys for the brand, perennially popular and often sold out; for newness, she had a bomber with leather sleeves and a fully reversible swing coat. Don’t miss the embroidered pillbox hat.