A design for a Cinderella-caliber fantasy dress has lain dormant in Neville Wisdom’s sketchbooks and on his mock-up boards for three years now. It starts simply: a silken, almost sweetheart neckline in a deep blue, the color of something you’d want to dive into at the first hint of summer.
Then the magic begins: a tightly wrapped, ruched bust in the mildest tan, a seductive sliver of midsection, and a hip-hugging skirt, punctuated by large, light pockets and clean blocks of blue and tan.
Every season, Wisdom stopped to gaze at it and then, with a sigh, flipped the page.
But 2015 had a different scent in the air. Wisdom had just finalized plans to open his new store in Westville. More of his fashions were popping up on women around town. And something was going to change when he went to the fashion storyboards.
Lucy Gellman Photo
“This spring, I said, ‘OK. This is the year you’re going to do it’,” said his assistant and NW brand director, Lauren Sprague. “And he did, and we’re so happy.”
Friday night, the dress and others were brought to life on the third floor of New Haven’s former City Hall, where models sported 30 new designs from Wisdom’s spring 2015 lookbook. Marking what Wisdom hopes will be a move toward greater accessibility and exposure, several of the evening’s designs were available in different sizes after the show, waiting to be tried on as attendees and fashionistas — sometimes one in the same — milled about the emptying runway.
“It’s a lot of fun dresses in this collection. Easy to wear — you can dress it up, dress it down, wear it around town,” Wisdom said at the beginning of the show.
This season, that means clothes inspired by a 2014 trip to his native Jamaica that make him think about “a good time … a clean line, and really comfortable, nice clothes you wear in the summertime.” The designs are characterized by long, elegant forms, rustling silks and flowy linens, and a few traditional favorites, like a summery take on a jacquard dress and a light track jacket in Sol LeWitt-esque black and white color block.
The spring collection finds its strength in this cool balance between elegance and functionality. Springy, polka-dotted frocks meet edgy cutout patterns; the age-old shirtdress gets a welcome upgrade with charcoal-colored pockets and a breezy, breathable skirt; silky blue and off-white spring coats exuberantly embrace minimalism while bone-colored blazers with back pleats marry Peggy Olson’s Madison Avenue with the bomber jacket.
In this happy fusion is where Wisdom hits his stride. By the time a model elicited one great gasp from the runway audience with her billowy wrap dress, one thing about Wisdom’s head was very clear: Karin Gustafsson, Chris Costan, Chicago’s Chris Despos, and Daniela Ciancio are all sitting around a table drinking aged rum somewhere in there. Oscar de la Renta is not invited, and it is gorgeous.
Wisdom doesn’t stop with obsessively planned runways, yards of fabric, and an extra ten designs to fall back on, though. He’s a big picture kind of guy, and that extends to his friends and business partners in the Ninth Square, downtown New Haven, and Westville. Channeling the Town Green’s On9 spring spirit, Wisdom delighted and surprised attendees with an evening full of local entertainment:
… the tight-knit, impeccably dressed jazz band from the Owl Shop …
… desserts from Katalina’s Cupcakes …
… local photojournalist Johnathon Henninger …
… and New Haven artists Dave Shabazz and Dooley‑O, the latter spinning tracks as he painted at one end of the room.
“It felt good being amongst fellow artists, people who are doing totally different things but still representing art. Art in New Haven is one of the craziest things, because I think it’s still a best-kept secret — and it shouldn’t be. It should be more towards the forefront. When you do any type of art form and see how it feels to do it — to release and inhale it and exhale it, it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. Tonight, I got a chance to do that, so I’m happy,” he said.
“Art is everything,” Shabazz said. “There could be 100 people here who had never spoken a word of English, and the way they see joy in art, music, and fashion would be the same. Visual expression in that way is so, so important,” Shabazz, a local tattoo artist, has started doing oil on canvas paintings. In front of him, a skull streaked with bold oranges and blues took shape.
Shabazz was speaking to the heart of the event. Fashion shows are, by definition, about beautiful people; for Wisdom, that means something much greater than what happens on the runway. As the evening wound down and the models changed out of their ten-inch heels into skinny jeans and spring tops, Wisdom took a moment to speak about his master vision for the evening.
Neville Wisdom.
“I thought about always doing something like this. We have so many talented people around the neighborhood, and I didn’t want this night to just be about me … I wanted it to be about people who I know in the community, who have been doing really awesome work. I just wanted to reach out to them and see if I could share them working with me and doing something together. Everybody really came together to make this special.”
The next On9 will take place May 1, 2015. To find out more, visit the New Haven Town Green website. To see more photos from the fashion show or find out more about Neville’s spring collection, visit his Facebook page.