Simon Miller’s Chelsea Hansford welcomes you to Silicon Valley. California’s San Fernando Valley, to be exact. Yep, the place that inspired countless movies (most recently Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza ) and gave us the “valley girl” subcultural youth stereotype was the starting point Hansford’s pre-fall collection.
“This is my interpretation of Silicon Valley,” Hansford said during a preview. “All these amazing and iconic medieval sights are the backdrop to the city for me.” Old-fashioned restaurants, motels, disco clubs and tiki bars make up the vibrant blue, red and green hues. The colors come to life on mesh hand-painted polka-dot prints, colorful sequins on layering dresses and separates, and varsity logo tees. While these ideas would grab the attention of young Simon Miller shoppers, a pair of printed colorblock cargo pants and a skirt drew a particularly eye-catching cord with their lively graphics.
Hansford’s forte is accessories. This time around, pointy-toe penny loafers (with the Simon Miller logo penny) stand out, as do metallic wire go-bags, which complement the metallic trench coats from the ready-to-wear collection, which, Hansford reports, have been buyers’ favorites so far. Love. It’s hard to resist something shiny.
The label shot this season’s lookbook at the Valley Relic Museum, home to iconic brands like Bob’s Big Boy Burgers. To Hansford’s credit, although her inspirations are graphic and recognizable, her explorations are not literal, but she does capture its ’70 and ’70 and send them to 2022. She knows how to have fun and knows that her creations just need to unleash this potential in all of her customers. Paul Thomas Anderson says Licorice Pizza is his love letter to the San Fernando Valley; consider this collection Hansford’s own dispatch.
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