1 week Ago
Nowadays New York’s hottest club is the West Side Highway, where people go for early morning jogs before heading to work. Lately, it’s become the backdrop of the zeitgeisty, romance-driven “running clubs” where twenty-something singles search for a similarly athletic mate IRL. Among them is Israeli designer Yigal Azrouël, who took inspiration from his runs for his spring 2025 collection, with racerbacks, leather logo baseball caps, and cashmere jerseys among his offering.
“I love mixing things together, playing with soft and hard, sporty and traditional, classic dresses, and clashing them together,” he said. Azrouël stuck by his house codes: masculine-meets-feminine silhouettes, utilitarian details, and materials like leather and Japanese denim were all present. But it’s a tall order to include such heavy fabrics in a collection designed for the warmer months.
While both denim and leather were present, the designer exercised his creativity to incorporate them into the collection in less literal ways. Denim trompe l’oeil was a recurrent motif, with Azrouël engineering an ultra-light cotton twill trench that made for a smart and convincing denim alternative. Less realistic was the silk overprinted blouse made to look like light wash.
Still, Azrouël is a thoughtful designer. “You cannot really wear a heavy denim shirt in the summer, so I created it in a silk,” he said. “I love to experiment but keep it in a very minimal approach.
” Still, the collection had many of Azrouël’s staples, which are his strongest pieces: heavy Japanese denim paper bag pants and sexy, draped silk dresses with hardware embellishments. But he managed to strike a balance, like adding a raw hem and carpenter details to his pants, or including a removable hood on a slinky dress. Experimentation with restraint is where he shines.
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