In Earnest By Byron Lars Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear Collection

The theme of Byron Lars’s fall show announced itself during the process of creation. “I started working on some fabrics and I saw these pieces coming together, and I’m like ‘It kind of looks medieval,’ ” explained the designer on a walk-through. Thinking about how he ended up in Camelot, Lars saw a through-line to current women’s rights issues. “Women are out there in droves fighting for what’s right. That’s the only thing that I could come up with [to explain] why these clothes? Why now? And then I just leaned into it.”

The most literal interpretation of the theme is a “chain mail” jacket that can be worn as a shirt or dress with leggings with armor-like detailing. Lars likes to gild the lily: witness the dresses with lace tops and coppery sequinned skirts, which the designer lavished on details like lace-backs and mini-peplums on his patchworked pieces. (It would be nice to see what they’d look like when they weren’t competing with dramatic fabrics like printed lace.) There were examples of Lars-isan restraint throughout the collection. It came in the form of double-breasted coats and shapely bombers with puffed sleeves, the latter in faux leather with zipper trimming, perforations, and pleated ribbons. The designer also played with unexpected contrasts, pairing a lace tank with a pair of metallic tweed culottes with embroidery and passementerie trim and corsets, with super-wide cargo pants paired with a lace tank. One part Knights of the Round Table, one part dancing on the tables, was a printed lace shirt with a spangled party skirt that embodied the collection’s vibe, which in Lars’s words is “warrior princess-ish.”