WWD: Sum up the state of American fashion today.
Ken Downing: American fashion continues to be important. What Americans bring to our industry — it’s that Yankee ingenuity of clothes that have a realism to them that customers respond to and want to wear.
As an industry, we are very much in a moment of transformation. Where [New York fashion] was once very coveted — people wanting to come to see the amazing collections — somewhere along the way, that has faded. It’s fallen from favor.
I believe that a lot of the falling from favor isn’t from a lack of creativity, a lack of quality, [but] from the arduous fashion calendar that seems to bend and slip and jerk all over the city. It’s important to determine collectively as Americans what we can do to reignite the excitement around American designers, so that the European and foreign buyers who used to look forward to coming to America want to return.
WWD: You think there’s been a falloff in attendance?
K.D.: I know it. I’m hearing it from buyers from the U.K., from Europe and from other parts of the world. It’s expensive to travel, it’s expensive to have teams here. They have either stopped coming and

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Natalie Bloomingdale’s e-commerce site The SIL (which stands for “stuff I love”), a platform for exclusive offerings by independent designers, has teamed with The Beverly Hills Hotel to unveil a holiday capsule collection next month inspired by the landmark property. Launching in one of the redesigned bungalows, the collection will feature ready-to-wear pieces and accessories designed by SIL Shop designers from Paris to San Antonio, Tex.
“For more than a century, The Beverly Hills Hotel has remained a symbol of Hollywood’s Golden Age and Los Angeles’ celebrated lifestyle, with a signature aesthetic that has become recognized around the world,” said Edward Mady, the hotel’s regional director and general manager. “Its iconic design elements serve as inspiration for artists and designers, and this inaugural capsule collection with The SIL is an example of the influence this beloved property continues to have in the fashion world.”
Founded by Bloomingdale last year, The SIL’s own branding was very much inspired by the color palette of The Beverly Hills Hotel, her favorite Los Angeles haunt and that of her late grandmother-in-law, society doyenne Betsy Bloomingdale. A frequent patron of the Polo Lounge, the hotel’s legendary restaurant and bar, the younger Bloomingdale channeled the green and white

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ART SERVICE: The ball was in Tory Sport’s court on Tuesday morning.
The activewear brand opened its Flatiron flagship early in support of Art Production Fund, Fort Gansevoort and The Art Lab’s Art Sundae project. The nonprofit public arts program, which started in fall 2017, connects children with professional artists to create collaborative artwork, which is then displayed at Fort Gansevoort.
“Casey [Fremont, executive director of the Art Production Fund] and I both have children that are around the same age…and we love to bring them to different art galleries or museums, to really introduce them to art,” said Carolyn Angel, who owns “cultural space” Fort Gansevoort with her husband. Art Sundae also partners with the Hudson Guild, a Chelsea-based community center located in the nexus of New York’s gallery district. “We just realized that a lot of children don’t have that same [access]; they aren’t even aware that it’s free to enter a gallery.”
“It teaches kids that galleries shouldn’t be places they feel they can’t go to,” said Art Production Fund’s Casey Fremont of the project, as guests browsed Tory Sport wares and posed in front of the brand’s tennis-ball mascot, Little Grumps; 20 percent of proceeds from the event benefited Art

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Architecture49 plays the design game under par.

Hennessey gives the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee a speed-focused makeover.

Exiled Empress Farah Pahlavi talks with Muse about her new book, Iran Modern.

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SECONDHAND NEWS: Committed to sustainability as an individual, designer and business owner, Jussara Lee used that ideology as a rookie costume designer for “Inside the Wild Heart.”
Based on the writings of one of Brazil’s most famous writers, Clarice Lispector, the immersive theatrical experience was conceived by Andressa Furletti and Debora Balardini and directed by Linda Wise. The show bows Thursday in New York. Lee was initially approached by the Brazilian theater company Group.BR about helping to fund the production. She offered to pitch in with the cast’s attire instead.
Lee described Lispector’s work as “amazing,” but the project’s upcycling is what really sold her. Working with a low budget meant “that it was all about secondhand and vintage shopping. I was very interested in that and told them, ‘We’ll make adjustments. We’ll make things fit. That’s what we do best,’” said Lee, adding that she liked the idea of reusing “things that had already been extracted and polluted. There is so much clean-up to do and so much stuff in this world.””
In addition, the project forced her to switch up her usual routine and do some thrifting at Beacon’s Closet in Brooklyn and “all the other underlings.” It was also an

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A NIGHT AT THE ARMORY: In review of Marc Jacobs’ spring 2019 collection, WWD referred to the show as “unrelenting, magical fashion that ranged from want-it-right-now to full-on fantasy.” The designer who ushered in grunge, then glamour of the purest order (then grunge again), is known to invoke awe with whatever skin he puts on. It should be no surprise, then, that Jacobs is to be bestowed with an honor at this year’s Indigo Ball on Oct. 16 for his artistry and showmanship.
Jacobs, along with philanthropist Marina Kellen French, will be awarded at the Tuesday night event inside New York’s Park Avenue Armory. The gala is to feature cocktails, a dinner and a presentation of artist Robert Wilson’s “Voom” portrait that features Winona Ryder. The actress is depicted, clad in a floral headdress, standing behind a hillside decorated with a purse and toothbrush. Plus, there will be performances by the International Contemporary Ensemble, jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, pianist Aaron Diehl and a full orchestra led by conductor Darcy James Argue.
Guests slated to attend range from designer James de Givenchy to the deputy mayor of New York, Alicia Glen. The gala will be co-chaired by Wendy Belzberg and Strauss

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