Women's Autumn-Winter '22 - The Modular Metropolis

The strength of striding into the unknown wearing garments that radiate confidence cannot be underestimated. For AW22, Studio Nicholson founder Nick Wakeman, has distilled the essence of what a wardrobe needs tore main exciting – by taking paired-back pointers as inspiration for the new season's cocktail of colour, comfort and imagination.

To help steer the autumn/winter seasonal landscape, Wakeman has introduced broad, sharp silhouettes that showcase the dreams of a hardworking 1980s utopia. Taking cues from the inner-city polish of late 1980s New York, this is a slick reinvention of the modular wardrobe. It’s big sidewalk energy. Fast-talking success stories. Luxurious but hardworking fabrics, with a colour palette reminiscent of a stroll through Central Park in fall (with a cone of raspberry ice-cream).

Refined daywear echoes some of the iconic shapes seen in the 1988 blockbuster, ‘Working Girl’. With Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver smashing together the notion of timeless classics with sportwear. It celebrates a time when trench coats, tights and trainers were worn together without irony – total functional finesse. Heroic levels of urban elegance and priceless, strong, feminine beauty. Interchangeability and a deliberate nonchalance about breaking the codes of so-called ‘good taste’ are the key. Sportswear and tailoring team up to take first place on the podium.

Cinched-in waistlines counterbalance the deliberate angles of super sculptural outerwear. Serious separates amplify the playfulness but maintain a powerful attitude. Polished rebellion welcomes the playfulness of industrial strength exposed zips on durable pencil skirts in dry wool twill. Soft brushed Italian cotton shirts in popstar plaid are tucked into neat, slender pants that pool at the ankle.

Cuts are longer and leaner than ever before - in a determined bid to celebrate the body and radiate elegance. This is a fabric free-for-all with rich autumnal authentic experimentation and iconic levels of layering. By referring back to these unapologetically epic fashion 1980s disrupters and unpicking the refined elements, Studio Nicholson have managed to create a serious refresh on the womenswear aesthetic.

Knitted accessories flood the collection and turn their back on the mainstream punctuation approach by becoming crucial jigsaw pieces for every outfit. Wool leggings are ribbed to accentuate the calves and split open at the ends, sitting on top of footwear, instead of inside it. Gloves are lengthened, knitwear snood hoods feel part space-race, part relay-race. Eco-down blasts out maximum volume with dramatic recycled nylon jackets designed with generous collars that roll up or down for attention. Colour feels filmic, poignant, renegade and rule-free. Active meets archive in full-time hero modules made for a technicolour society. It’s a modular multiple-choice buffet, intelligently refined for the headstrong Studio Nicholson woman.