For fall, Nanushka’s Sandra Sándor went back to memory lane to her teenage years growing up in Hungary. Before the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, crossing borders was forbidden; fashion was anathema. Sándor and her family traveled extensively within the country, so her sense of fashion was initially shaped by the utilitarian folklore of local rural communities’ traditional costumes. It was only later that she came across fashion magazines from the US :“It was a revelation,” she said. “It opened up an entirely new world. I was in love.”
The co-ed collection was about layers of personal memories: “I wanted to look at myself, going at the roots of my style; it’s the ‘90s seen through the eyes of a Hungarian teenager,” said Sándor. She referenced the raw beauty of the shepherds’ coats made from the curly vellum of racka sheep as well as the midriff-baring tops and the leggy minidresses worn by supermodels in the pages of Vogue; the sporty zip-up sweaters her father used to wear for tennis tournaments were as strong an inspiration as the sturdy black leather biker jacket of a rider boyfriend. They were translated by Sándor into Nanushka’s utilitarian, minimalist wear, whose understated feel was elevated this season by luxurious textures and a focus on crafted surfaces.
Standouts in the gender fluid lineup were voluminous nomadic coats and waistcoats in white faux fur mimicking racka sheepskin, cropped boxy jackets in soft tech velvet quilted with traditional Kopjafa symbols, and maxi A-line city coats and protective capes in black regenerated leather bonded in shearling. Sándor continued to expand the research on sustainable fabrics and treatments, in keeping with Nanushka’s ethos of responsible production; the upcycled OKOBOR (the label’s trademark alt-leather) was rendered into an elastic seersucker smocked fabric, while a faux sheep hide featured a thick, compact texture and a smooth, soft finish.
