"With Love, Yours Truly" is a homage to the Northeast’s coastal escapes — the drives out of the city, open windows, salt air, and the quiet arrival at the water’s edge. It reflects places where generations return, where time slows, and where the weight of urban life gives way to ease, familiarity, and freedom.
Inspired by the coast of Maine & Long Island, the collection is defined by movement and lightness. At its core is the women’s white set, crafted from an unexpectedly lightweight wool. Chosen for its breathability and fluid drape, the fabric moves with the body in summer heat—lifting, settling, and responding like water against the skin. Traditionally structured, wool is reimagined here as soft, sensual, and free. Supporting fabrics—linen, cotton, and silk—draw from sun-washed landscapes, beach towels faded by salt and light, and the stillness of dusk on the horizon. In the spirit of Claire McCardell, the collection embraces freedom of movement and lived experience, inviting the wearer to escape, return, and linger at the coast just a little longer.
To understand the archetypes within the collection, the lifestyle must be considered.
For the affluent in the Northeast, summer life has long centered around the country club. More than a social institution, it shaped American ideas of leisure, community, and dress.
Founded in 1882, Brookline Country Club marked the beginning of a culture built around seasonal escape. Tennis, golf, and swimming became central to this world, requiring clothing that allowed the body to move with ease while still adhering to social codes. Over time, the visual language of these sports extended beyond the club itself, influencing how Americans dressed for everyday life.
By the mid-twentieth century, this shift found its clearest expression in the work of Claire McCardell. Rather than treating athletic clothing as separate from daily dress, McCardell brought its principles of freedom of movement, practicality, and comfort into modern fashion. Using materials such as cotton, wool, jersey, and denim, she designed garments that supported the rhythms of daily life, redefining what American style, particularly women’s style, could be.
This way of thinking directly informs the collection. By viewing the country club not only as a social space but as a sporting and stylistic foundation, the collection reinterprets classic codes of dress through fabric, movement, and ease, continuing the evolution McCardell helped begin.
Sources: Claire McCardell "The Designer Who Set Women Free" by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, "When the Girls Came Out to Play" by Patricia C. Warner, New York Public Library, Parsons’ research databases,
& archival photographs from Prouts Neck, Maine, a coastal community my family has returned to for generations.
Drafted from personal measurements, this pattern was refined through three rounds of development, including a final slash-and-spread adjustment to introduce a subtle baby flare for a vintage-inspired finish.
While the overall pattern remains clean and uncomplicated, the focus lies in the details. Proportion, balance, and precise refinement elevate the silhouette without excess. The result is a confident, versatile pant designed to fit and flatter across genders.
Drafted from personal measurements, this pattern was refined through three rounds of development, including a final slash-and-spread adjustment to introduce a subtle baby flare for a vintage-inspired finish.
While the overall pattern remains clean and uncomplicated, the focus lies in the details. Proportion, balance, and precise refinement elevate the silhouette without excess. The result is a confident, versatile pant designed to fit and flatter across genders.
The photoshoot for Love Always, Yours Truly follows New York City residents escaping to their summer retreats. They gather for evening cocktails on a beachside patio, framed by sandy shores and an endless horizon.
The air is warm. The spirit is young. Laughter carries into the night as the energy lingers, effortless and magnetic.
