For years Stephanie Lake, designer, curator, auction specialist and the caretaker of the Bonnie Cashin archive (and author of the volume Bonnie Cashin: Chic Is Where You Find It) posted on her @cashincopy Instagram account comparisons between contemporary collections and original Bonnie Cashin designs.
Collection after collection it became clear that the American designer was definitely not among the most copied ones, but the most copied one, with unacknowledged references to her original pieces being spotted in a variety of collections, from Calvin Klein by Raf Simons to Miu Miu, Rachel Zoe, Lisa Perry, Marc Jacobs and Coach among the others.
From 1962 to 1974 Cashin worked at Coach and here she often employed solid metal toggles as fasteners, elements that became associated with the brand. In more recent years, the brand kept on reproducing or reinventing her accessories or adding her signature details to modern designs, but often the brand didn't acknowledge her.
Things seem to have changed, though: Bonnie Cashin will be part of The Costume Institute's exhibition at The Met, "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion", a two-part exploration of fashion in the United States opening next week.
Besides, Coach has finally released a collection that features reinterpretations of Cashin's most famous designs and accessories, conceived as a homage to the American designer.
Clever fashionistas with a penchant for vintage garments have been on the lookout for Cashin's original outerwear and accessories for years.
Her designs were always focused on functionality and timelessness and integrated very clever ideas, from her lime green cotton canvas A-line raincoat from 1955 characterised by a trompe l'oeil shoulder bag applique that formed a pocket, to her signature twist locks and kiss locks pockets.
Stuart Vevers borrowed these inspirations for Coach's S/S 22 collection, presented last Friday during New York Fashion Week an event that marked the return of physical fashion shows after over a year of digital presentations due to Coronavirus.
The model opening the show wore a sculptural pink and beige check cape with oversized boxy sleeves inspired from a Bonnie Cashin jacket from the A/W 1964-65 season.
Silk and cotton anoraks with houndstooth and plaid patterns, mohair plaid shirt jackets and canvas raincoats with leather pockets followed hinting at Cashin's textile collaborations with Scottish company Ballantyne of Peebles and with Serbian textile designer Bernat Klein.
There were more items lifted from Cashin's collections like her iconic skirt with dog leash hitches that could be used to alter the length of the garment.
The collection also featured references to Cashin's unfitted coat called the "Noh" (designed to be worn over other garments as part of Cashin's layered wardrobe) and her poncho and canvas raincoats.
The most interesting point about these new pieces heavily based on designs created around 60 years ago, was that they looked on trend even when matched with casual modern clothes, styled with a cap, or paired with a souvenir T-shirt celebrating New York's appetizing store Zabar's, restaurant Serendipity, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Eagle Bar or with baggy denim skater shorts (a group of skateboarders closed the show accompanying the models, almost to highlight this continuity between the past and the future).
A sustainability twist was added to the collection via handbags made with baseball gloves that seemed as covetable as the kiss-lock closure ones based on the 1969 "Cashin Carry" bags.
The trompe l'oeil looks that may have been references to Cashin's trompe l'oeil bags on her coats, ended up looking instead out of place, almost modern colourful renditions of Roberta di Camerino's trompe l'oeil designs.
So does this updated and celebratory remix of Bonnie Cashin works for future generations? Well, genuine fans may still prefer looking for original pieces in vintage stores, but this is a way to introduce younger generations to timeless (and genderless) designs and to the importance of functional details like Cashin's iconic turnlock hardware.
Hopefully, this will not just be a one off collection and it will inspire more young people and design students to work like Cashin did, aiming to create practical designs that can stand the test of time rather than trendy pieces that are fashionable for less than six months.
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