“She Has Some Sass to Her”: Inside the Grown-Up Glamour of Iseder SS25

SUNDAY 9:50 PM SEPTEMBER 8, 2024 55 WATER ST

At Iseder SS25 this past Sunday, hundreds of young fashion fiends gathered after sunset to watch billowing white bubble skirts and big sculptural hats fill a grassy FiDi oasis. The collection, titled “Bridging Eras,” was a kind of redirection for designers Taylor-Paige Garvin and Sharon Mishiev (22 and 23, respectively). Setting aside the scrappy, relaxed punk Americana they presented in their last two shows, Iseder leaned into grown and sexy—think six-inch stilettos, mini hoop-skirt dresses, stiff capelets, and a five-kilo gem-set gown. Accessories like charm-bedecked clutches and oversized rings were inspired by late-night people watching in their native New York. Refined and cohesive, it was another in a series of Spring/Summer shows that finally has people excited about the future of New York fashion. After the throng dissipated and a footwear crisis was resolved, we grabbed Garvin and Mishiev to dig up all the feelings that inspire them.

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MEKALA RAJAGOPAL: Thanks for helping with my fashion emergency.

TAYLOR-PAIGE GARVIN: I hate that that happened to you. Did they get the other piece of your shoe?

RAJAGOPAL: No, it’s gone.

GARVIN: I think a cobbler can repair that one part, though.

RAJAGOPAL: Yeah, it’s just a piece of rubber.

GARVIN: Sharon’s taking photos with his family. I think this is the first time his family came to the show.

RAJAGOPAL: Oh, really?

GARVIN: He’s really excited.

RAJAGOPAL: So many people came. I was telling my seatmate that this was the most people I’ve seen at a show this season.

GARVIN: I was shocked. I mean, last time, we had 600 people also.

MISHIEV: But this time, it’s like we couldn’t fit everybody here.

GARVIN: But it was really nice to see the whole place full.

RAJAGOPAL: It was really cool to see. Where are you guys from?

GARVIN: I’m from Queens and he’s from Brooklyn. 

SHARON MISHIEV: We’re both from New York City, so we pick from the things we see every day.

ATTENDEE: I loved your show. It was amazing. When the models were all coming out and half was white and half was black, that was so fire.

GARVIN: Thank you.

ATTENDEE: I thought y’all were just going to run on the field at the end of the show.

GARVIN: That would’ve been crazy.

RAJAGOPAL: Yeah, the venue we’re in is so beautiful. How did you find this?

MISHIEV: We came across this location and we emailed about 10 people until we got to somebody who directed us to somebody else. We had over 80 emails to secure the location.

GARVIN: It was a lot of back and forth. 

RAJAGOPAL: What is this place?

MISHIEV: There’s the stock exchange on the lower level and then it’s offices. This is the park it’s attached to.

GARVIN: Basically, in the ‘70s, they had to build a public park on top in order to build the building up higher.

RAJAGOPAL: Oh, wow. That’s an interesting piece of history. It’s so well-maintained, it hardly feels public.

GARVIN: Yeah, people were actually coming in, so we kind of blocked it off.

RAJAGOPAL: What were you looking for in a venue?

GARVIN: Something that was really good at nighttime.

MISHIEV: And that represents the gathering of nightlife in New York. It’s a place to come together and reunite. 

GARVIN: Even the light box reminds me of a DJ booth. We’re really, really into the lights that were coming out. It’s not really natural, but it’s like streetlights.

RAJAGOPAL: It’s very familiar-feeling. Who did your soundtrack?

GARVIN: ESP. We’ve been editing the mix with them all week. We went through a lot of people that we wanted to have. We spoke to Nation originally, and then we wanted to have Girl Band New York, but the timing was hard because of fashion week. But ESP came through and they were awesome. I think the ambient sound that they have really works with the collection. 

RAJAGOPAL: Is there a name of the collection?

MISHIEV: We like to finalize the names based on the feeling after doing the show. It can change so quickly, so we want to understand how the show went and then kind of build a name. 

RAJAGOPAL: So how are you feeling right now?

GARVIN: I’m feeling really, really happy. I feel very complete. I feel like the collection really captured everything we’re trying to get to as a brand. Other seasons would have one thing we’d focus on, but this one had a little bit of everything. 

RAJAGOPAL: Yeah, there were a lot of really good shapes, like the mini hoop skirts and the big hats. 

GARVIN: We use a thick fabric on a dress form and play around with it. That’s how we come up with the shapes. We also used felt in this collection, which helped with the shapes because felt is so thick and kind of creates bubbles.

MISHIEV: And in terms of accessories, we wanted to incorporate our New York identity by having like New York rings and other pieces that really represent the city.

RAJAGOPAL: What else do you take inspiration from?

GARVIN: Honestly, a lot of it is people watching and taking from what we see outside.

MISHIEV: We were kind of inspired by the financial district at nighttime in this collection. For some reason, we ended up coming here at night all the time.

GARVIN: It’s like our scene of people mixed with the attire of the financial district. 

MISHIEV: Not really business attire, but more of just the feeling you get from the big buildings and the shadows they create, those alleys where you’re consumed by the buildings.

RAJAGOPAL: Kind of dark mistress, a little serious. 

GARVIN: A little mysterious.

RAJAGOPAL: But straight to the point.

GARVIN: Yeah, it’s very sharp, very clean.

RAJAGOPAL: Did you have any favorite looks to make?

GARVIN: My favorite look was look three—the original look three, with the skirt. Originally, the collection had a few menswear looks in it, but towards the end, we realized that we should just go full-fledged womenswear.

RAJAGOPAL: I love that choice.

GARVIN: Thank you. And originally, the sweater that we had was paired with the menswear look. It’s a black zip-up sweater that’s very fitted, with a big poofy black skirt that has this pleather kind of look to it. The skirt was very last minute, but the manipulation with the fabric was great and trusting.

RAJGOPAL: Who are you hoping to dress in this collection?

GARVIN: Someone that wants to step into what it looks like to be a 20-year-old and start going out. I feel like we’re sort of transitioning in a way. We were going from like, not grungy, but a very whatever style. We’re refining that now and maybe adding a little heel.

RAJAGOPAL: A little grown.

GARVIN: Right. Like, a clean pencil skirt, and maybe you’re putting on that necklace that looked tacky in 2012, but now it’s cool now. A person that is trying to rediscover how they want to look when they go out.

RAJAGOPAL: Stepping into womanhood.

GARVIN: Yeah, discovering womanhood. And embracing it.

RAJAGOPAL: And it’s not done in a corny way. She’s kind of bitchy.

GARVIN: Yeah, I didn’t want it to feel like, “I am feminine.” I wanted to be very bitchy and clean. She has some sass to her. 

RAJAGOPAL: I love it.