Scene setting: The half-completed building of The Africa Center, designed by Robert A.M. Stern, proved to be a meaningful backdrop for Area’s impressive new collection. Constructed in 2010 but as yet to be completed due to funding, the building — which is the first museum to be built on Fifth Avenue since the Guggenheim was completed in 1959 — hosted Area’s latest runway presentation in it’s unfinished concrete interior. A design for the building’s interior by Caples Jefferson Architects was unveiled in 2016 and since raising $25 million in donations last year, the concept is set to soon become a reality.
Mood board: For A/W 2020, Area designers Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk created a collection that exuded a new maturity while still retaining the label’s bold sensibility. Sharply tailored suiting was paired with extroverted cut-outs. Fringed dresses — an Area favourite — were crafted out of colourful raffia and beaded crystals — not for the faint hearted. Provocative leather pieces were drenched in a wood grain pattern reminiscent of parque floors, for a comforting yet refined quality.
Team work: This season also marked the label’s first-ever collaboration, with the design firm Crosby Studios’ new lifestyle brand, #Myreality. Proceeds from the sales of the collection of art object accessories, which included mini crystal encrusted folding chairs worn as cross body bags and earrings, will be donated to The Africa Center to support the instuition’s work in highlighting the influence that the continent and its people has on the rest of the world. §
