Ernest W. Baker staged its debut runway show with a collection full of elevated tailoring.
“We’ve been building momentum as a brand and felt like the energy was going there,” said Reid Baker, half of the design duo behind the label, launched in 2018.
He and Inês Amorim were keen to try something new, “but making sure that the collection and the show is still reflective of the brand’s DNA,” Baker said. “We feel we’re in a confident space to take that next step.”
They paid homage to the brand’s path. “We wanted to let that feeling of ‘journey’ guide the collection,” Baker said. To wit: The display was held on a boat in the river. Swarovski embellishments reflecting constellations and shooting stars spangled some garments.
Still, the essence of the brand – its classicism, “the craft,” Amorim added – was well maintained. She and Baker always pay keen attention to detail and quality. They reinterpreted traditional checked fabric, expanding their traditional brown check into a black-and-white tartan. That was then iterated into knitwear and leather developments.
Baker and Amorim presented a lineup of sharp sartorial looks boasting silk lapels, fitted blazers, slightly boxy proportions. Trousers were flared. Of the 27 looks, 18 were menswear.
A key accessory was the tailored loafer, nodding to the Eighties.
Baker summed up Ernest W. Baker as “always searching for this perfection and refined, strong total look as a brand.”
