Miss Rowe www.missrowe.com Rating: NNNNN
If fashion is entering a safety zone for fall 2008, how does a designer address style’s basic black fallback position without it looking boring? If you’re Miss Rowe’s Ashley Rowe, you cut subtle black leather into oversized T-shirt-shaped tunics and knit an outer layer of nappy South American yarn over wool bustiers, bombers and vests.
Her all-black fall line also includes baggy pleated trousers and jackets with oversized lapels, proving that sharp fit and silhouette are a must for any monochromatic palette. The collection is Rowe’s entry in this year’s Toronto Fashion Incubator New Labels competition, and we’re betting judges are easily lured to her dark side.
