There’s a lot of buzz around the Puppets & Puppets brand. With accolades come expectations, but Carly Mark, who found fashion through sculpture, has every intention of shaping her brand, and its success, with her own hands and in her own image—not according to a script. “This collection is about me,” the designer said. “It’s about being in sync with myself and being true to myself. I shed things that were not serving me or who weren’t listening, and I brought on people who do listen, who understand the struggle.”
To stress this resolve, the designer’s “very first pre-collection ever” is as personal as it gets. Mark cast her 90-year-old grandmother as well as her best friend Jane Moseley in the lookbook, which was shot in her own apartment. On top of that, many of the looks mimic the designer’s own preferences; the t-shirts and printed mesh leggings with hip cut-outs here are iterations on the look she wore for her spring 2023 bow. The leggings a dreamy AI-generated print based on Mr. Chow’s restaurant. “Per usual the collection is very New York, and my experience in New York, and Mr. Chow is a very New York iconic restaurant,” said Mark.
A black tracksuit spiffed up with metallic gold sequins is her take on evening dressing. Its sporty(ish) ease is in line with the “basement lord” undercurrent that the designer said enlivens this offering. (A basement lord for those not in the know is a nerdy character, or caricature, of “somebody who wants to be hardcore.”) In contrast, an ink-colored maxi coat in pressed croc with strong shoulders has a lord-it-over-all attitude.
More conventional, at least within the unconventionality of the Puppets world, are new takes on Mark’s signature pannier dress. There’s one in molten gold paired with a hoodie and a shorter version in floral printed sequins. There are also straight-up pretty frocks that were remastered the Puppets way. A soft white number was styled with a high-cut, sheer mesh bodysuit over it, and an almost prim, floral “Mormon church dress” got a Sharpie makeover (somewhat, in this editor’s eye, in the spirit of early Imitation of Christ).
People have strong feelings about Puppets & Puppets, which has always walked the line between art and commerce and embraces touches of performative circus-like razzle dazzle; expressed this season with sequins and tinsel. Of a coat pinned with fabric remnants Mark said, “That’s what people come to us for; it’s a beautiful coat, but there’s a weird detail to it that you’re not going to get anywhere else.” A slip dress with “wine stain” circles at the bust and a sister piece, a white column with a red Puppets logo dripping down the front, horror movie-poster style, are also on-brand.
Mark’s popular novelty handle bags come in new variations; there’s one with a bent spoon handle and another featuring a greyhound. There’s also a curvy shoulder bag that sits under the arm, which the designer touts as “a classic bag, but in a funky Puppets shape,” yet another confirmation that there’s nothing cookie cutter about her take on fashion.
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