After showing in Paris for the past two seasons, Connor McKnight has returned home.
The Brooklyn-based designer, who is among the finalists for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund this year, presented a spring collection he titled: “At Ease,” and like his prior offerings, it presented an almost autobiographical look at his life reflected through the clothes.
“I just turned 30 and I’m trying not to look for the difficult solutions anymore,” he said, adding that in the past, his design process, and his life, seemed more chaotic than necessary. So this season, he returned to the peace and reflection he felt creating his first collection during the pandemic in 2020. That collection, due to necessity, used a lot of deadstock fabrics that he was able to source in limited quantities.
This time around, he’s created nylon jackets and some of his workwear pieces out of vintage tents and parachutes. That includes bright yellow and green bomber-style jackets with hoods in bright yellow or green. A World War II Army green tent was reinvented into cargo-style parachute pants, and a bug net was made into a mesh jacket.
Because of the scarcity of the materials, many of the pieces are one-offs, unless some of the tents or parachutes were big enough to warrant the creation of two pieces.
“It’s a fun spin on silhouettes I’ve been using and adds spontaneity to the collection,” McKnight said.
Beyond the one-offs, McKnight also updated some of his staple items including his double-breasted suits, which are now longer and more oversized than in the past. While the silhouette may have changed, the suits are still being made by the Martin Greenfield facility in Brooklyn.
“I’ve gotten good traction with my suitings,” McKnight said, adding that they’ve become popular for weddings and special occasions where guys are open to dressing more creatively. McKnight also brought back his shorter, double-breasted model from last year, but offered it up in an ivory color as a dinner jacket this time around.
He also brought back his popular cropped, boxy moto style leather jacket — “My hero product,” he said — but in a chocolate brown color paired with wide-leg leather pants this season.
McKnight also stepped out of his neutral palette to create multicolored striped long-sleeve polos, along with sleeveless models and cardigan versions.
McKnight said the collection was inspired by the 1960s and 1970s, his “favorite eras of clothing and film. But I wanted to find ways to bring it into now.” Mission accomplished.
