Supima Design Laboratory promotes US-farmed cotton in Paris

Paris Fashion Week might have ended but Supima Design Laboratory was still on Paris time on Thursday. The US cotton enterprise which represents cotton harvested in Arizona, California, Texas, and New Mexico organized an electronic fashion show and roundtable to celebrate the ascent of their long-haired fiber within the higher echelons of Parisian elegance.

According to Buxton Midyette, VP Marketing and Campaigns, the Supima Style Lab, in its 3rd season, provides three lenses through which to “take a snapshot of what’s going on popular today.” The first is the US-structured Supima Style Competition; second, the finalists of the twelve-monthly Hyères International Festival of Manner, Photography and Fashion accessories; and thirdly the present of looks from a curated band of leading designers working with Supima cotton to reflect their dna and vision.

2020 finalists of the US-based Supima Design Competition were Amanda Forastieri of Drexel University, Kyra Buenviaje of Rhode Island University of Style, Jenny Feng of Manner Institute of Technology, Sakura Mizutani of Vogue Institute of Style & Merchandising, Jennie Nguyen of Kent Talk about University, and Terrence Zhou of Parsons University of Design. A look from each collection, like the champion, Drexel University’s Amanda Forastieri, was proven digitally. Her striking color-infused affirmation stood out in a present with an usually predominantly subdued palette.

Supima presents US graduate vogue with established Parisian brands

The main partners of the 35th twelve-monthly Hyères International Festival, whose founder Jean-Pierre Blanc also participated in the roundtable, certainly are a who’s who of luxury giants: LVMH, Kering, Chanel, Chloe, Premier Vision and Swarovski, in fact it is heartening to see US graduates’ names sharing space with these globally renowned brands.

The presentation also featured looks by leading Paris-designers Lutz Huelle, Dice Kayek, Jean Paul Knott, Thierry Colson and On Aura Tout Vu, all pleased to showcase their usage of Supima cotton in a largely black and white palette perhaps representative of the stark reality the global fashion industry is coping with. “Covid has sharpened awareness around organic fibers,” explained Godfrey Deeny, Global Editor-in-Chief, Fashionnetwork, during the roundtable discussion, who as well expressed regret on fashion’s “ecological crimes” of yesteryear.

Emerging and established designers were on a single page seeing that this “sharpened recognition” translated in spotless shirting aplenty--with Victorian elements and shirring for Colson, or button-down with deconstructed sleeves by Huelle. Both proven label Dice Kayek and emerging skill Maximillian Rittler presented dark-colored overdresses with bright white undershirts, while On Aura Tout Va embellished a sharp cotton coat with black and light feathered shoulders. It was impossible never to interpret the prevailing aesthetic of dark on bright white to be about evoking different beginnings, the Supima cotton a blank canvas. After the season we’ve had up to now, that’s an idea we can all get behind.