In a very short time, the Orley design trio of brothers Alex and Matthew Orley and Matthew’s wife, Samantha, have become darlings of the industry incubation set. They were finalists for the 2014 CFDA Fashion Fund, are current members of the CFDA Fashion Incubator, are on the short list for this year’s LVMH Prize and are nominated for the Swarovski Award for men’s wear at this year’s CFDAs.
To that end, until now Orley has been a men’s knitwear brand, dipping its toe in women’s with a capsule collection for fall and introducing its first full-fledged women’s line for resort — a collection that impressed with quirky charm and luxuriously novel stitch work. To a great extent the women’s collection, 100 percent knits as of now, reflected the men’s sensibility. “It’s youthful but not necessarily young,” Alex said. “We like to deconstruct old clothing or something nostalgic or retro. It feels familiar but done in a slightly subverted way.”
The touch of nerdy twee in a graphic blue and white twinset with a tipped, collared cardigan evolved toward chicly comfortable sportiness in a lean tank dress. With women’s design comes the opportunity to experiment beyond the boundaries of men’s wear, which the designers did with great, fluffy hand-crocheted tanks and skirts and a silk tape crochet bomber and skirt. Vibrant, happy color has been key to Orley since the beginning, but there’s an openness to it in women’s. As Alex said of a bright pink range of knits, “We’ve been pushing this shade in men’s for three seasons now.”
