Fashion’s Response/Christian Siriano
A two-piece, white cotton dress printed with a multicolor brushstroke motif and a white dress with large, puffed sleeves and a black hat, face mask, and gloves printed with the word “VOTE” by Christian Siriano.
A bra top, ball skirt, hat, and mask of red-and-white gingham cotton, nylon, and elastane jersey by Christian Siriano.
Christian Siriano making masks.
Graphic: Fashion designer Christian Siriano making masks in his atelier, March 2020. Image Courtesy of Christian Siriano
When New York became the first major city in the United States to be seriously hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, fashion designers were among the earliest businesses to respond to the crisis. Facing an exponential infection rate and shortages of PPE for frontline workers, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order on March 20, 2020, that placed all non-essential businesses under lockdown. That same day, fashion designer Christian Siriano tweeted at Governor Cuomo: “If @NYGovCuomo says we need masks my team will help make some. I have a full sewing team still on staff working from home that can help.” In less than an hour he was in direct contact with the governor’s office. Within a week, Siriano and his team of ten seamstresses had developed a prototype and an assembly process to pivot his atelier from couture sewing to PPE mass production for two of New York State’s largest public employers. Colleagues like Naeem Khan and Eileen Fisher similarly shifted their design manufacturing in the early spring, while others such as Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss found alternate ways to provide critical support. In addition to setting aside funding for struggling minority and women-owned small businesses, Jean-Raymond also transitioned his office to a mail-in donation center for masks and Latex gloves on March 18 th , after learning of the hardships faced by friends and family working in healthcare. According to Siriano, the governor’s office was keen to engage with New York manufacturers and, in particular, fashion designers to find creative ways to combat the Covid-19 crisis and celebrate the resiliency of New York’s industries.
A bra top, ball skirt, hat, and mask of red-and-white gingham cotton, nylon, and elastane jersey by Christian Siriano.
Christian Siriano (American, founded 2008)
Christian Siriano (American, born 1985)
Gingham ensemble, spring/summer 2021
Bra top, ball skirt, hat, and mask of red-and-white gingham cotton, nylon, and elastane jersey
Courtesy Christian Siriano
Looking to the comfort of home and childhood as the creative inspiration for this collection, Siriano suggests a winsome sense of nostalgia with this gingham pattern, wistfully evoking the ease and pleasure of summer, family picnics, and vintage films. Gingham was invested with new social relevance in 2020, as outdoor dining and park picnics became popular ways to safely socialize. Indeed, the designer envisioned this ensemble as a “fantasy picnic,” replete with a wearable blanket for spontaneous lunches in the grass. The ultra-feminine A-line silhouette is true to the designer’s signature love of glamour, but valorizes the aesthetic of 1950s housewives with the vintage charm of its gingham pattern, ruched bra top, and wide skirt, a nostalgic style that emerged during lockdown as an alternative at-home uniform to loungewear.
A white dress with large, puffed sleeves and a black hat, face mask, and gloves printed with the word “VOTE” by Christian Siriano.
Christian Siriano (American, founded 2008)
Christian Siriano (American, born 1985)
‘VOTE’ ensemble, spring/summer 2021
Dress of white plain weave polyester and polyurethane blend; hat of black satin polyester and polyurethane blend; mask of black plain weave polyester and polyurethane blend; gloves of black satin polyester and polyurethane blend
Courtesy Christian Siriano
Christian Siriano’s “Collection 37” debuted in tandem with a presidential election year and was designed during the period of quarantine. This puffed sleeve dress with accompanying ‘VOTE’ mask, opera gloves, and wide brim hat reinforce the need for personal protective equipment in a global pandemic, while simultaneously supporting 2020’s call to political action. A designer with a strong activist voice, Siriano intended for this ensemble to be wearable while still conveying a powerful political message. It was specifically designed with a fun and youthful audience in mind, with a short hemline and playful accessories to garner attention and encourage turnout among younger voters. The ‘VOTE’ pattern was widely worn and shared by celebrities across social media to encourage participation in the presidential election, while the white color of the dress (symbolizing virtue and purity in Western culture), and the Edwardian silhouette of its sleeves, both reference the women’s suffrage movement of the early twentieth century during which women wore white ensembles while protesting for their right to vote. Though many women of color were excluded from the early feminist movement, over a century later white is symbolically worn by a diverse array of female politicians to evoke hope and inspiration, and has even been embraced by the Black Lives Matter movement in solidarity with its long history as a color of protest.
A two-piece, white cotton dress printed with a multicolor brushstroke motif by Christian Siriano.
Christian Siriano (American, founded 2008)
Christian Siriano (American, born 1985)
Brushstroke ensemble, spring/summer 2021
White cotton satin weave printed with multicolor brushstroke motif
Courtesy Christian Siriano
As nostalgia became an antidote to the stress of pandemic and protest, retreating to childhood memories served as both an escape route and creative resource. For Christian Siriano, this meant looking toward the cultural touchstones of the 1980s and 1990s that inspired his career in fashion, and to the everyday activities that kept him busy during lockdown. The result was a blending of fantasy and memory that considered the specified sartorial demands of staying home without sacrificing glamour. The puff sleeves of this ensemble evoke both the voluminous silhouettes of the 1980s as well as the café society of the 1930s, where elements of dress placed focus above the shoulders in order for socialites to make the greatest impression in society pages, and for early film stars to stand out on screen—strikingly prescient for waist-up dressing in the age of Zoom. The whimsical ‘brushstroke’ print is an homage to Siriano’s own time during lockdown, as he was inspired to further explore his creativity through painting: a high fashion moment in keeping with the do-it-yourself ethos of fashion during lockdown.