When a blouse or sweater has shell buttonsa have you ever wondered what kind of shells they are? Or where the shells were sourced? What about the impact of removing the shells from their natural habitat, then carving them into little spheres? It’s safe to say the average shopper hasn’t, nor has the thought occurred to most designers. Maria McManus dug deep into shell button research and discovered that not only is the process environmentally detrimental, it’s actually turned the marine nautilus into an endangered species.
McManus’s findings reinforced just how far the fashion industry has to go to reduce its impact. We need to get into the nitty gritty—the buttons and labels and stitching. It also reminded her of a favorite photograph, Edward Weston’s gleaming Nautilus from 1927, which inspired her first-ever print: a swirly black-and-white nautilus motif. It appears on a high-slit pleated skirt, a voluminous blouse, and slim trousers, all in crisp organic cotton. For her sustainability-minded customers, the print will serve as a reminder to “tread more gently” on the planet and to leave nature undisturbed. To everyone else, it simply lends a new, graphic element to McManus’s line of elegant, consciously-crafted essentials. (McManus’s peers, meanwhile, should consider it a challenge to zoom in and dramatically refine their sustainability efforts.)
Spring 2022’s other big news was its expansion in tailoring—McManus pointed out a collarless wool blazer in responsibly-sourced cream wool—and new experiments in knitwear. An ultra-fine-gauge pleated skirt had alternating strips of gauzy, nearly-translucent yarn, all the better to layer over split-hem leggings or under a curvy shirtdress. (Don’t miss the the buttons trailing the dress’s sleeves, allowing your arms to peek through like in McManus’s popular split-sleeve knits.) The nautilus skirt was styled in similar long-over-long proportions with the season’s hero coat: a slouch yet refined poncho-hoodie hybrid in lofty organic cotton fleece.
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