Lafayette 148 Fall 2025 Celebrates Artisans and Their Craft
Over the last year, Emily Smith has been spotlighting the varied art mediums that inform her luxurious collections for Lafayette 148. She started with oil painting, then life drawing and ceramics; for fall, she finished the story with a celebration of textile design.
Smith began her process abstractly, thinking about tapestries and female artists like Anni Albers, she said during the brand’s NYFW presentation with dressed mannequins set against large looms. “But then as we started to work on it, it was really the hands from within the house that became the bigger story,” she said.
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Smith was referencing the team’s ability to craft their own textiles in the New York atelier season after season, a rarity in New York. The magic was on full display in special pieces spanning artisanal knitwear, luxe outer and leatherwear, relaxed tailoring and occasion dresses. For instance, fall’s pale blue jacquard gown that featured an impression of the curled ribbon fringes that three-dimensionally decorated a neighboring little black dress, or an artisanal wrap skirt with fully knitted panels that were handwoven with a variety of textiles and fringed with an undone look, as to evoke the presence of the hand.
Each piece was stripped back to showcase the elements that went into it as on a fringed leather and suede skirt, which utilized scrap materials or a black set made up of woven velvet knit strips. Both were noted to be speciality, limited-edition pieces, while the brand’s signature L tote bag in handwoven leather nicely offered a more commercial take. There were also stark yet striking calf hair coats alongside plenty of lofty knits in embroidered alpaca boucle yarn, cashmere jersey and heavy-ply wool cashmere blend, to name a few, that upheld the collection message.
Throughout, QR codes were placed below each look with links to custom videos explaining the talented designers’ techniques and the passion behind each piece. In one clip, textile designer Leila Dubus explained how the brand’s signature white shirt was given the trompe-l’oeil effect of a handwoven open-knit swatch, using a gel plate printing process.
“I always feel lucky to be the voice of it, but really, it’s the team,” Smith said earnestly.
At a time when the world is in turmoil and the industry rapidly changing, Lafayette 148’s fall collection was a strong message about the enduring power of the too often overlooked workers behind fashion’s final product.
Launch Gallery: Lafayette148 Fall 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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