“I’m always really driven by fabric,” said Nellie Partow at her Flower District studio on a recent afternoon. “There’s something about the constant search for the purest level of cotton, finding the most gorgeous compact-sized cottons, and duck canvases…” she trailed off as if in a day dream. These are the fabrics that made up her spring collection. The duck canvas she used on a handsome navy suit that was simultaneously elevated and casual; handsome satin pieces were light as air, thanks to a fabrication without the crepe layer that the material is commonly backed with. One of the standout pieces was a suit with a washed-wooden texture that even up-front appeared to be woven out of very fine jute, but it was Tussar silk, with beautiful color irregularities that turned them irresistible. “At the end of the day, when you’re really investing in pieces, you want to feel unique,” Partow said. “It’s human nature.”
The suit symbolizes everything that luxury clothes can be when they are done right. An exacting design made to work with a busy woman’s life, unfussy, elegant, powerful, in an unusual material that even the woman that has everything will likely not already have. Trousers and skirts had subtle-yet-exaggerated darting that created shape while eliminating unnecessary seams. There is a real craft and artistry that goes into Partow’s seemingly simple clothes—which once again I have to note, come alive in person in a way that pictures can never capture. It makes sense, because Partow makes clothes for real women living real lives away from social media feeds. “The business has grown 150% since last year,” she said. “In the last five to eight years, as we’ve all seen the way the industry is changing, I looked to finding out who actually is our customer base and who we are speaking to, and I started to focus on who our clientele is and cut the noise of what the industry is doing and what other businesses are doing. It’s been really, really exciting.”