Degen Fall/Winter 2012 “Ask Tell”
Lindsay Degen presented her Fall / Winter 2012 collection today on February 8, 2012 in NYC. Degen presented a lineup of colorful striped pieces including knit pants with cutouts and crochet details, oversized hats crocheted from hand-spun merino wool, angora ridged knit tops with short row lace, racked rib dresses in cashmere, hand silk screen printed t-shirts, plated knits pants.
The shoes shown with Degen Fall / Winter 2012 “Ask Tell” featured knitted elements paired with leather and pony hair; the platform sneakers featured hand drawn pattern work by downtown artist RJ Raizk. Degen brought knitting to footwear as seen on various sections of the shoes along with the incorporation of knitted shoe laces. Additionally shoes featured (in classic Degen style) target-specific cut outs which served to reveal Degen’s trademark mis-matched socks.
“My first full ready-to-wear collection, entitled “ASK TELL,” celebrates the repeal of the longstanding military policy “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and promotes a cultural shift to a more open-minded policy. With glorification of the individual in mind, I set out to make a collection that references military themes while commending the idiosyncratic, quirky and even QUEER. This season, DEGEN represents a celebration of the queerness in all people. As a salute to the importance of the individual, I collaborated with a small army of creative people over an array of mediums: a photographer, a stylist, a shoemaker, a crocheting milliner, a potter, a jeweler, an architect, and a painter. Honoring the quirk of the individual is shown theoretically through chosen imagery and actually through the experiment of working together, with WAY too many cooks in the kitchen. Open communication with each other proved to be instrumental. Coexistence is large-scale collaboration — ASK TELL!” –Lindsay Degen
