The past two years have created a dichotomy between collections made for going out and those for staying in. Amy Smilovic at Tibi has aimed for the middle. For fall 2022, she explains, she wanted to make clothes for living a life in: going to work, having friends round for dinner, seeing a movie. “The whole coziness can never go away for us,” Smilovic says. “But we thought really hard about how we can bring it into work environments and dinner environments and feel like it really makes sense.” She gestures to a matching caramel ultrasuede set and says, “it’s appropriate for anything, or you can take a nap in it for seven hours on your couch.”
Ease is the guiding force of the collection. Not in the way that athleisure or a wrinkle-free oxford shirt is easy: you couldn’t take these clothes straight from the wash and throw them on. But they are specifically crafted to give the wearer the illusion of effortless elegance. The wide pants “puddle,” as Smilovic says, on the ground just so. The trench coat with an attached bandana (subtle Western influences feature throughout the collection) billows as the model walks. Save for a few shoulder pads, nothing is stiff. Not even the cutouts in a sweater, which look like beans or Aalto pools. The pants all sit low on the hips. It’s a controversial silhouette in jeans, but with trousers it looks undeniably less “done” than a high waist.
The only place where this relaxed mentality fades is in the two opening looks. The wide leg, elastic waist tracksuit pants are, naturally, comfy as can be, but the asymmetrical bodysuit with one extra-high cut leg belies the wearer’s tolerance for uncomfortable or complicated clothing. But, after all, it is a collection.
