CO founder Stephanie Danan is now settled in Paris, which means she’s looking at dressing a little bit differently. Which means, she adds, that she’s leaning into the “extreme duality” of being half-American and half-French.
“I’m always trying to balance distinction, wearability, and nonchalance, those are my three most important factors. Finding that while not looking like everyone else is always an interesting play,” she said during a preview for her pre-fall collection.
This season, that proposition brings together two currents: volume on the one hand and the Parisienne’s eternal love of masculine/feminine style on the other. The former comes by way of slouchy cargo pants worn with a breezy shirt, a boiler suit with shoulders out-to-there and a low-slung waist, and amply cut suiting. Roomy leather bombers met next season’s embrace of clothing-as-carapace for anxious times.
The more feminine side showed up in either tiers of ruffles—on a billowing trench or a black skirt shown here with a tailored jacket—or in body-skimming black dresses, among them a one-shouldered style, a number with batwing sleeves, and another with a bare back.
If the fall color palette skews “digestible and easy to wear,” the lineup also packs some maximalist flourishes, notably in camo print and chocolate plaids that, despite cold-weather connotations, come in lightweight viscose and cotton poplin. The idea is to style those a tad messy, Danan said, or take a cue from her own approach to transitional dressing by mixing them with favorite foundational pieces.
This lineup felt like a little bit of everything, but it turns out that’s by design too: CO’s sales have doubled in the past year, gaining traction with fans on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. Its next move: a debut Paris Fashion Week presentation in March that Danan called a “sort-of coming out.” CO’s home turf is minimalist dressing with a twist. Now that that groundwork is laid, it’ll be interesting to see where it goes next.
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