At Nili Lotan the blouse is back. “I haven’t been doing silk blouses, I’ve been making all of my tops as cotton button-downs,” laughed Lotan at a preview. She missed them, she said, and so did her customers.
You could say the blouse’s resurgence was coming, based on the wild reception to Chloé’s Chemena Kamali’s boho extravaganza in February, but Lotan is an instinctive designer, one who doesn’t bother herself with trends. For resort, that instinct took her into her own closet, where she pulled out two flowy tops: one a prim pussy bow blouse and the other more sultry with ballooning sleeves, a tight neckline, and a slit running down its back.
“I think something that happened in this collection is a sense of freedom,” she said. “It’s about bringing in more fluidity, more silk, and less structure.” She loosened up her silhouettes, flaring the bottom of her flattering jeans and trousers and layering her billowy silk bouses with the occasional chunky knit or a tailored jacket in a classic pinstripe or check.
In the world of Nili Lotan exist four core tenets: Rock and roll, ’70s Yves Saint Laurent, western aesthetics, and uniforms. Each collection checks those boxes in a particular way. This time around the rock vibes came from the sharpness of the tailoring, while the soft blouses nodded at YSL. The western of it all—which, if you haven’t already noticed, is also very much back—came through in some buttery leather separates and a fabulous suede fringed jacket. As for the uniform? The thing about Lotan is that everything she makes is meant to become one.
