Inside menswear designer Dana Lee’s studio in New York

Dana Lee’s resolutely charming and self-referential menswear defies the simplest collective umbrella under the Made in America powerhouse seen in the recent seasons. The Canadian born New York based clothing designer has resurrected her formulate skills in fashion who from 2006 to 2009, was the creator of the A-Z collection, re-contexualised domestic menswear that eventually appeared more constrictive. It was the ground-halt and cut-throat nature of the runway that Dana chose to disperse herself and rediscover what she could bring back into a still male-dominated industry. But that hasn’t stopped her or some of her other contemporaries such as Siv Stoldal, Ute Ploier and Carolyn Massey interjecting a gentler and interwoven masculine character without losing that strength in its own appeal.

In the latest collection by Dana Lee for Fall 2010, each individual piece are created in a fickled, oscillating fashion. What first appears to be straight cut and sew garment has been endeavored to endure a workwear spirit: New Zealand merino wool in elongated long johns, melange knitted wools in buttoned-up cardigans, finely knitted sweaters with crew neck ribbing and collar buttoning and heavy zipped parkas are just some of Dana’s delightful bespoke interjections. Challenging what she proposes has been her design and fabric connoisseur Cory Gomberg who also has directed his own clothing line titled Bureau who befittingly sees a kindred spirit in what the Dana Lee can propose for the context of menswear currently. Because as Dana Lee will describe in this interview with Cultures In Between, her childhood was splendidly spent craftmaking drawn from her father being an architect. These early interventions, for sightseeing, smell and sensitivity to the outside world has induced this New York designer to be on the spot for wholesome, devilishly handsome menswear.