BLAZERTesting

Contemporary designer women’s blazers strike a powerful, classic form, bringing an aura of serious, focused intent to formal occasions of all descriptions, while also acting as lynchpin for endless smart casual ensembles. The 9-to-5 blazer has enjoyed a resurgence in recent seasons, a phenomenon arguably tied to the quiet classicist pushback taking place as luxury casual trends continue to proliferate. Double-breasted blazers find new opportunities in off-duty ensembles, cast in a proliferation of imaginative tailorings, as contemporary updates like oversizing and embellished accents signalling one line of avant-garde divergence. Felted wool and cashmere pieces toy with social codes and preppy signifiers, rerouting school and rowing club uniform affectations into playful new technicolor forms, with textured trim offering eye-popping contrasts. Seersucker and tropical wool offerings often take on lighter pastel hues, granting a breezy, sun-dissipating vibe that carries the blazer through summer months. Geometrically cut versions with padded shoulders revive and refresh the 80’s power woman silhouette, deterritorializing feminine expectations with a thoroughly of-the-moment sense of self-assertive drive.