The defining ensemble in Sea’s fall collection was look 18: A puff sleeved jacket with cord embroidery worn with a fringed scarf wrapped around the waist of a pair of black pants with a slick flare and deep cuffs. This outfit was an amalgamation of many different themes—nostalgia, romance, boho, and a bit of boyishness (see also the wool checks in the collection)—that Monica Paolini and Sean Monhan have been working on over the past few seasons. Sea, once synonymous with a quilted jacket, has become at once more sophisticated and more sporty of late. Note the perfect ease of a roomy pair of boyfriend jeans styled with a blanket-stitched cardigan jacket with lace appliqués, or a nylon topper with frog closures and ribbon-tied lace cuffs and collar, or the unexpected combination of an army green trouser with a black beaded Victorian-style top.
Lace is still a mainstay at Sea, as the predominance of tablecloth dresses attested to, but its range of expression broadened beyond pretty, as when it was paired with leather or a menswear fabric. That airy material was used for delicate harem pants; one pair was shown with a shearling vest (raw meets refined) that nodded to the hirsute looks that seem to be everywhere right now.
This season the bubble shapes that keep popping up at Sea inflated skirt and coat hems. Some shoulders were also inflated in a way that channeled both the 1890s and the 1980s. Paolini, a savvy vintage shopper, has a feeling for the latter decade these days, she said. A subsection of the fall offering was dedicated to what the designer described as “academia”—think khaki, kilts, rugby and marinière tops with special embroidery and patch details, and pea coats with shearling collars. Classic pieces all, their Sea-ification, which consists, Paolini notes, of “making things very personal,” created a feeling of novelty and specialness.