After two years, St. John designer Enrico Chiarparin is well versed in the codes of the Southern California luxury brand, and on his way to adding some of his own. It seems to be resonating and is particularly relevant in a season when power tailoring is a major trend.
For fall 2024, he continued to adapt the house tweeds both in colorful and more muted options to a younger generation, cropping the jackets and pairing them with miniskirts or HotPants, and adding fun faceted jeweled cube buttons, adapted from earrings from the brand’s archive. A black-and-white diamond stitch cardigan jacket with patch pockets, matching miniskirt and long coat was a younger take on the suit, while a “Balboa blue” sweater and miniskirt knit set looked put together but cozy.
Responding to retailer feedback, fabrications have been evolved into more seasonless blended weights, “cold touch” cady and silk, as on a versatile-looking masculine double-breasted chocolate brown blazer with string belt and ’90s feeling slit maxiskirt.
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He’s also weaving more SoCal references into the brand language, from the midcentury modern legacy of Palm Springs (see the metallic geometric jacquard dresses and tops overprinted with California wildflowers), to subtle cowboy touches, like the yoke detail on the back of a chic short peplum jacket and skinny pant in chocolate brown and gray pinstripes.
Sequins are another St. John mainstay with which the designer has been working his magic, alongside other eveningwear options that brand consultant and Hollywood stylist Karla Welch has been helping to place. A slinky gold sequin tweed column gown with a scoop chain neckline, the publicist pointed out, has already been requested for a celebrity.