Daughters

NEW YORK, February 3, 2008
By Nancy MacDonell
Swaim and Christina Hutson of Obedient Sons have carved out a nice niche for themselves as purveyors of subversively conservative menswear in the fifties American prep-school vein—if you can imagine Holden Caulfield starting a punk band instead of brooding in his dorm room, you've got a good idea of the line's philosophic bent. The husband-and-wife team threw a few women's looks into the mix last season, an experiment that they've expanded for Fall '08, in recognition of which they've rechristened the line Obedient Sons and Daughters.

The Hutsons' daughters are mirroring their sons for now, with the tweedy outerwear, long john-style trousers, and brocade dinner jackets the duo made for the boys tweaked with higher waists and slightly more pronounced curves for the girls. It's a smart tactic. These designers have the preppy-rebel look down pat, and it's an aesthetic that appeals to a lot of women who want clothes that have the straightforward unfussiness of their boyfriends' and husbands' wardrobes. In fact, with their mussed hair and getting-away-with-it smiles, the girls in this show looked cooler than the boys.