NewYork fashion weekNEW YORK, February 12, 2010

By Nicole Phelps

After putting her signature line on hold in 2005 to take a position at TSE, where she remained until 2008, Tess Giberson is back on the fashion calendar. That should please arty, intellectual dressers who in the interim might've turned to kindred spirits like Maria Cornejo or A Détacher's Mona Kowalska. Giberson's comeback collection, which she showed on mannequins and in large-scale photographs at a Chelsea gallery, is titled Superimpose. Her idea, as she explained it, was to break apart the pieces of familiar items and rearrange them. A peplum jacket was patchworked together from thickly textured wool, men's suiting fabric, and felt, while another blazer had tulle panels on the arm. A hand-knit torso and sleeves were spliced onto a fine-gauge sweater worn above a miniskirt with its own knit details, and a dress with an asymmetric neckline was sand-washed silk in front and sportier mesh in back. The show worked because it never felt experimental for experimentalism's sake. Everything was eminently wearable.

After so long an absence, and with such an overcrowded schedule this week, it may be tough for this designer to get noticed. But the girls who've worn Giberson in the past will tell you hers are the kind of clothes that always get a second look.

Fashion Brand: Tess Giberson | www.tessgiberson.com

the girls who've worn Giberson in the past will tell you hers are the kind of clothes that always get a second look.