Natasha Zinko offered her take on two very hot topics for pre-fall: Sustainability and gender-neutral clothing.
She had quietly began experimenting in both arenas with her catwalk show in September, where she unveiled a small men’s wear range, but with her new pre-fall collection she was ready to make a bolder, more confident statement and come into her own.
The men’s wear line — which Zinko codesigns with her 11-year-old son Ivan — is already growing and so are the crossovers with the women’s range.
Natasha Zinko Pre-Fall 2019
27 Photos
Everything from the brand’s signature tracksuits, to tailoring and oversize outerwear became interchangeable.
“I’m always taking my husband’s clothes and he takes mine. No one cares anymore, especially when it comes to streetwear,” said Zinko, pointing to a women’s bandana-printed tracksuit she ended up styling on a male model, matching men’s and women’s check shirts and roomy blazers referencing the suits worn by the Duke of Windsor and high-waisted jeans, which were photographed together in a bid to create a contemporary take on “Thelma & Louise.”
Zinko also wanted to take a stance against the much-talked-about issue of waste, which gave the brand a revitalized sense of purpose.
She turned a photograph she took of a Miami beach being cleaned in the morning into a print that featured on denim, on the back of oversize puffer or shearling jackets and on the sleeve of a black minidress — against all odds she made it work and the result was striking.
Materials from old collections were also reworked into new pieces, from denim cutoffs to check trims added on sleeves or gabardine fabrics reworked onto minidresses.
This approach helped to further elevate Zinko’s flair for contrast and for meshing fabrics together; a deconstructed tweed and denim jacket being among the highlights.
Elsewhere, Zinko sprinkled more feminine touches to her signature streetwear looks, as in a flowing, bandana-print maxidress with denim trims, sexy A-line skirts and pink lace cycling shorts that peeked underneath dresses.