The French Riviera holds a special place in Todd Snyder’s heart.
“I got engaged in the French Riviera,” he said during a preview of his spring collection on Sunday afternoon. “There’s such an incredible romantic lifestyle about it. I think we all aspire to the 1920s and hanging out with Picasso and the Fitzgeralds, and this is about mixing that. Suits can always be a little bit stuffy, and my goal was to figure out a balance and how to make them a little looser and a little bit more beach.”
He took over the Le Rock restaurant in Rockefeller Center for his return to New York Fashion Week, seating attendees at tables and serving them Champagne or iced tea and an assortment of miniature French pastries. The space served as a backdrop to showcase Snyder’s “Villa America” collection, named in honor of Gerald and Sara Murphy’s house in Antibes where they hosted many luminaries in the ’20s.
For spring, Snyder sought to “bring that unhurried and creative lifestyle [of the 1920s] into the modern era through the pastel palette of the late 1980s and early 1990s,” he said in his show notes. That translated into oversize, mostly double-breasted suits in a range of light colors: azure, lavender, lemon and melon in addition to the more conservative tans and browns.
Snyder styled the suits in a way that softened the look, pairing jackets with shorts and sarongs, over batik blocked-printed beach sets or with mesh tank tops.
Several of the suits were created from a sueded linen as well as a silk brocade, mixing classic tailoring with a beachy vibe. Case in point was the opening look, a shell pink sueded linen tuxedo that he paired with a matching satin band collar shirt. Other standouts included a linen hopsack suit styled with an open-weave sweater and a black satin tuxedo with a voile stripe banded collar shirt.
The collection, the setting and the aesthetic offered a refreshing respite from the fashion week hubbub while recalling a more grandiose time in fashion.
