This season of New York Fashion Week marks a special milestone for the designers of Area. Not only are they opening the week with their September 6 show, they’re also celebrating a decade in the business. Founded in 2014 by Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk, the fashion and accessories brand has become known for its futuristic femininity meets surrealist structural silhouettes and innovative textures, often in embellished expression. Named after the infamous New York City nightclub, Area is a New York brand at its core. And while the designs often come off as over the top and unapproachable, everything boils down to the celebration and grandeur of simple elements.
“A lot of people think, Oh, Area, there’s a lot happening, but I also like simple things. There’s maybe a lot of elements, but if you actually pare it down, it always goes back to something simple, and that can be repeated into something major,” Panszczyk says.
Recalling Area’s early days, when it had one of its first installations — an embossed origami-like T-shirt — at Opening Ceremony, Panszczyk said people didn’t fully comprehend the brand’s vision.
“At the beginning, they didn’t understand it,” the Area co-founder said. “They thought it was unapproachable. It was not really buyable in a way. Then, I think people just started gravitating towards what we were doing because you couldn’t really get it somewhere else.”
Even though ten years doesn’t seem that long ago, fashion’s landscape has drastically changed from the days of 2014. A lot of that is thanks to social media. (Like most of us, Panszczyk dislikes Instagram’s ever-changing face-lifts and algorithms.) But the designers’ organic relationship with celebrities turned loyal clients has remained constant for Area’s growth. The design duo have dressed everyone from Beyoncé and Rihanna to Olympic medalist Simone Biles and, maybe the most unexpected of “Area girls,” Taylor Swift. (The brand’s beloved crystal slit jeans became the sparkle denim seen worldwide when Swift sported them with a black corset top to the Super Bowl earlier this year — spiking the product’s popularity “astronomically.”)
“Already, our jeans were very popular because Beyoncé also wore them, other people wore them. But I think with Taylor wearing them, it was almost kind of a larger-than-life thing. And it got us even on the Lyst Index for ten hottest products,” Panszczyk said.
While Panszczyk has spent the past couple of months focused on his big tenth-anniversary show, he took the time to look back on ten of his favorite designs from the past decade that have held significant meaning and served as inspiration for the future.
“I think that was the power of Area that I think it’s something very distinct,” Panszczyk said. “You might not like it, but if you like it … you’ll love it.”
A fox-fur bra from 2016
“This is a jumpsuit made out of acetate that we embossed with a back floral motif. Then the bra was fox fur that was giant and oversize that we also sold at Barneys — in that first season, Rihanna bought it for herself. It was shot on Kim Kardashian as well. But then also, I remember there was this one crazy shoot at Magic City in Atlanta, the strip club where they shot all these banging strippers in all these fur pieces. It was just, again, such a different kind of representation of what this fur bra stood for, and that’s why I like it.”
An updated cocoon coat from 2019
“This show was really important for us. Firstly, because of the location, the lobby of the Deutsche Bank on Wall Street. The first time I walked in there, it gave me goosebumps, and I felt like, ‘This is New York City.’ The shape was inspired by an old Balenciaga cocoon coat that we then, in Area fashion, turned into a bodysuit. We try to evoke a fantasy world from the ’60s, the juxtaposition of Balenciaga’s perfection, with a sexiness and attitude that Area is known for. That is what makes an Area look: crystals, hair, identity, expressing yourselves, and really combining these elements.”
Crystals galore in 2019
“So this was also the first season where we really started using crystals. We started by thinking about crochet and how knits are constructed, getting inspired by those artworks. And then, we started to create whole pieces out of the chain. It was jewelry that became wearable. So we started making these crystal wigs. That’s why this collection was such an important kind of milestone for us because it broadened the existing idea of what Area was. Beyoncé wore it in Black Is King. I remember she pulled it, and they kept it for a year, and we were like, ‘This is not going to happen.’ We moved on, and then all of a sudden, a year in, she wore it.”
A Met Gala look in 2022
“We dressed Simone Biles in this dress for the Met Gala. Athleta paid for it and it was the most expensive, craziest thing we did. It was so dramatic. People had to fly it over from India, and about 110 people had to work day and night in a week to complete it because this is how these things go. We didn’t have the six months that we needed to make it. It was 42 pounds.”
“I remember because Simone is so tiny thinking, Oh my God, how is she going to do this? She needed five people to carry it on the red carpet up the stairs. She was so strong.”
A headpiece for Beyoncé from 2022
“This was the first season we started working with hardware and accessories designer Xenia Bous, based in Rome. There was this kind of crazy creative synergy between the two of us. So, again, this was this idea of feathers and how can we make them gilded? But they had to be super-light. So she stamped all these Baroque-like feathers out of metal sheets, and that’s how it all was constructed. It was all feather-light but super-sharp and impactful. Beyoncé wore this headpiece and the big belt for her British Vogue cover story for Renaissance with a black Duchess structured dress.”
A piece fit for a museum from 2022
“This collection was all about ancient civilizations and going back into form and shape. We started thinking about pyramid shapes and how that became the kind of new stud or spike. We wanted to make this kind of exaggerated structured bondage core, but the problem here was weight. It couldn’t really be metal. So what we had to do was these 3-D-printed cones and then completely painted and spray-painted to antique them, and then set them in with crystals. So it was a lot of weight. It was almost not meant for walking. There were even a few dresses in the collection that nearly couldn’t walk the runway because they were so fucking heavy. Beautiful, but they were more installations versus dresses. When Bethany — the amazing model— saw this piece, she said, ‘Let’s do it.’ And then, when she put it on, she said, ‘It’s so heavy, but this is actually a testament to my health and what I actually can achieve with my body.’”
An updated opera coat from 2023
“This was made of a silk-blend jacquard that we created. It’s almost kind of a couture opera coat that it’s completely structured. The crazy thing is we actually just sold it to a famous rapper’s mom. He bought it for her. She received it recently, and she was so happy. It’s kind of so beautiful that you can make these things that, almost in a way, become sculptures or museum pieces. But there are a few people out there who want something that no one really has.”
A look for a performer in 2023
“Alex Consani wore this piece, and even when she saw this piece, she resonated with it so well. For me, the idea came from Josephine Baker and her banana skirt. Even when you see the progression of the banana skirt and how, over time, it evolved and became very aggressive.”
An out-of-this-world dress from 2023
“This was another piece that I did with Xenia. It was like, Okay, how can we push ourselves even more? So we were thinking about grapes … what if a grape wilts away and becomes small, black, and quite dramatic? So even from the girl that was wearing it — her pale skin, jet-black hair, and these metal and Swarovski domes just flying away from her — it was really creating something that felt almost like a satellite. I remember Caroline Jacob shot this for Vogue Italia with Bella Hadid. When they saw it they said it felt out of this world.”
A dress with all eyes on you from 2024
“This was from our last show, which was all about perspective: looking back at yourself, really, at each other, voyeurism, and how that inspires clothes and fashion. Janelle Monáe wore it as a Met Gala after-party look, and she really took that look to town. And I think Janelle transformed into this thing because you want to be truly a part of the vision.”
