- TOMBOY EXCHANGE
Brought to us by Naomi Gonzalez and Fran Dunaway, Tomboy Exchange‘s impressive collection of separates targets a very specific type of woman—she prefers “tube socks over leotards,” their website says—and draws style influences from George Sand and Amelia Earhart, what with their practical glamour and trousers pulled high. Also seeping in: Diane Keaton’s elegantly disheveled character Annie Hall, from the 1977 Woody Allen film, and her piling together of menswear items: the knotted ties, bulky jackets, starched shirts, suit vests, pinstripes, and drooping pocket squares. (This was either Diane Keaton’s idea, or Ralph Lauren’s, or costume designer Ruth Morley’s, I can’t tell, but the look swiftly pervaded the era’s magazine spreads and generally turned the fashion world upside the fuck down.)
TomboyX’s capsule line contains plush cotton sports blazers and high-end polo shirts in check prints or earth-tone solids; an additional selection of caps, T-shirts, cargo pants, and golf skorts is coming soon. For their fit model, Naomi and Fran deliberately chose a middle-aged woman who wears size 12, which is a refreshing change. Large-scale, corporate shit shows often rely on fantasy bodies to fulfill this utilitarian role, even though those fantasies have nothing to do with who we really are or what we really need. “We’re not 20 years old, we’re not a size 0, and nor do we want to be,” says Fran. “We’re tomboys making clothes for tomboys.”
