Rachel Comey: Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

Rachel Comey didn’t intend for the humble jumpsuit to become one of her signature pieces. She just liked wearing them. The New York designer has created 52 collections in the past 15 years and, among those thousands of garments, a jumpsuit has emerged as a hit most seasons. Sometimes it’s short, patterned with willow branches or poodles, not much different in style from a child’s romper. Other times it’s grown- up, with loose, pliant pants and expensive lace. Comey’s jumpsuits bear little resemblance to the coveralls that car mechanics or prisoners wear, although they share that utilitarian ethos. “It’s an all-over look that you’re putting on, you don’t have to add anything else, and there is something strong about them,” she says. “They’re also kind of feminine. At least, they can be.”

Comey makes clothes for women who want to look put together but not sexy. Her eponymous line is full of $470 dresses that are loudly patterned, or somewhat misshapen, or off in a way that makes them feel unique. Her $360 Bishop pants hit somewhere between hip and bellybutton, with hems that skim at the ankles. Most of Comey’s garments are kind of loose—hers isn’t a label that appeals just to the thin—and fall somewhere between casual and dressy. “I’m really just thinking about what modern women want to wear,” says Comey, surrounded by samples of Italian fabric in her sunlit NoHo studio. “I want to give them great fits, but also fun, interesting things.”