Osman Yousefzada’s sales have increased 50 percent in the past year, and that has much to do with celebrity. Lupita Nyong’o, Emily Blunt, Emma Watson, and Anne Hathaway have worn his designs on the red carpet—not a single beaded mermaid gown among them. Yousefzada takes an elegant, covered-up approach to evening. What makes it special are his English quirkiness and a dash of ethnicity applied with a restrained hand. Pre-Fall drove that point home. The Navajo tribe was his inspiration, but his reference points were mostly subtle.
Delicate dollops of fringe decorated a very cool chambray denim dress. A matelassé series had silver Lurex so faint it just barely sparkled. And cashmeres came with a slight Navajo print. Zesty lemon yellow cotton poplin pieces were more unexpected, but they worked. Then there were the formal items, like a versatile white jumpsuit with tassel details and what Yousefzada called the “ladybird” dress: a forward-thinking take on the LBD with fantastical wing-like sleeves. It looked destined for the red carpet.
—Afsun Qureshi, Style.com
