Join us as we explore the creative process behind Lafayette 148’s stunning Garden Party collection. Inspired by Emily Smith’s upstate New York garden, this pre-fall lineup blends bold, graphic prints with tactile textures and unexpected color combinations. Discover how flowerbeds, foxglove flowers, and raffia baskets translated into elegant leisure suiting, Chantilly cross-stitch knits, and embellished stretch jersey pieces. Emily shares her passion for gardening and how it became a source of joy and creativity for her team. From hand-painted watercolor iris prints to minimalist silk linen frocks, this collection invites you to embrace feminine, calming, and elegant styles. Perfect for fashion enthusiasts and garden lovers alike!
Keywords: Lafayette 148, Garden Party Collection, Emily Smith, Pre-Fall Fashion, Garden-Inspired Fashion, Luxury American Brand, Tactile Garments, Bold Prints, Feminine Style, Fashion Design Process, Upstate New York, Creative Inspiration, Chambray, Denim Workwear, Gardening Gear, Fashion Trends 2024
Boldly entering the garden as fabric is the new frontier. Lefet 148 captures how a personal hobby can reshape a fashion line. Over the summer, Emily Smith, lead designer at Lafayette 148, invited her team to her upstate New York home to research the prefall collection. The aim wasn’t simply a new lookbook. It was a deep dive into how a lived environment can inform design decisions. Smith explains that the house was intended as a balance tool between work and life. Yet, the garden quickly became the real catalyst, fostering a fresh creative drive rather than a polished interior project. Gardening for Smith isn’t about flawless presentation. It’s about curiosity, trial, and joyful discovery. That mindset spilled into the collection, translating garden features into wearable details. Flower beds inspired gritted prints on leisure shooting, while the tactile texture of Chantelli crossstitch knits drew from tall fox glove and loop and blooms. Rafia baskets found new life as embellishments on a stretch jersey crop jacket and a mini dress, linking natural forms to refined silhouettes. The hobby also shaped color strategy. Expect brighter hues, including bold combinations like poppy orange paired with hydrangeanger blue against root brown tones. These choices mirrored Smith’s 12 budding flower beds and push the line toward a fusion of masculine and feminine aesthetics. Think chamé and denim workear meeting gardening gear. To anchor the idea, the team embraced hands-on experimentation. They gathered pens, papers, and even created a scarf featuring everyone’s illustrations. Print direction was kept unapologetically bold and graphic to preserve the brand’s DNA. Large painterly watercolor iris motifs painted in the garden, then translated to a minimalist silk linen dress, an abstracted apron shirt, and a pencil skirt with a fluid feel. Smith emphasizes that gardening has become a wellspring of happiness for both her and her colleagues. The collection invites wearers to share in that joy, offering feminine, calming, and elegant pieces designed for everyday life rather than seasonal drama.
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