Bidding Farewell to a Beloved New York Clothing Line

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This summer, the designer Mona Kowalska will shutter A Détacher, which has been a staple for creative women since the late ’90s.

By Kate Guadagnino

Mona Kowalska, the Polish-born designer behind the independent clothing label A Détacher, embodies a dreamy reality of late ’90s New York, when, perhaps for the last time, opening — and discovering — a small downtown shop still felt possible. In the brand’s early years, Kowalska was a team of one, making patterns in the back room of her original Mott Street store and emerging whenever there were customers — of which, eventually, there were plenty. Her success was hardly circumstantial, though: She has a way with what is often described as intelligent dressing, “intelligent” typically meaning coolly unsexy. A Détacher clothes are that, but they are also unmistakably feminine, slyly flattering (Kowalska is an expert draper) and, most notably, deeply creative.

The fall 2012 collection, initially inspired by a piece of Teflon in, according to the designer, “the most beautiful synthetic orange,” ended up being a conceptual ode to Japan, with dropped-sleeve cocoon coats and knit skirts folded over at the waist in a subtle nod to the obi. “I think there’s a wonderful synthesis of synthetic and natural there, without such a hierarchy between the two,” she said. Another collection (fall 2011), which included a shearling vest and ’70s-style wool trousers, arose after Kowalska thought to style her next runway show invitation after a ransom note and began researching Patty Hearst. “Everything written about her asks, ‘Is she ordinary or extraordinary?’” she said. “I wanted to make these clothes that sat right on that line — are they something special … or not?” To her clients, many of whom consider her a friend and yet mention her in the same breath as internationally recognized designers like Dries Van Noten and Marni founder Consuelo Castiglioni, it isn’t a difficult question. This is why, when Kowalska announced in February that, after 21 years, she will soon retire both the store and line, she was met with an outpouring of dismay.

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“There’s been such a panic with everyone coming in and stocking up,” said Kowalska, 55, who opened in New York in 1998 after studying fashion in Florence, Italy, and spending a year running Sonia Rykiel’s design studio in Paris. Although the line started with more of a tailored aesthetic, it became best known for its roomy dresses and chunky shoes, recent versions of which will be available at the store, while supplies last, until its official closing in July. Kowalska still has a designer’s fondness for and encyclopedic knowledge of her past pieces, from a one-armed cape to a white deerskin jacket (“every once in a while, things turn out more beautiful than they were in your head”), and she struggled with the decision to shutter the brand for several years. “Technically, things got easier. But always having new ideas that felt like genuine expressions, that part became more elusive,” she said. There’s also the matter of the internet, which she fears gives the false impression that clothes are free. But mostly she just felt ready for a change. Kowalska hinted that she might move into conceptual design or straight art making, adding, “I’d like to have sustained thoughts about other things and see if I can squeeze another lifetime into this one.”

To recognize what’s come so far, the artist, designer and A Détacher devotee Yolande Milan Batteau hosted a party for the brand this past Saturday at her home and studio, a former shoe factory in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood. Batteau first learned of the line when, new to New York, she went to a party and noticed a couple of art girls wearing Kowalska-designed platform sandals. She became one of those girls herself and, later, a friend of the designer’s. “At that point, I realized that the richness you see in her work is from her interiority,” said Batteau. “There’s a quality of depth that you find in extraordinary makers.”

As guests entered the backyard, a multilevel patio and attached roof garden planted with medicinal trees and forget-me-nots, the space became a showcase for some of A Détacher’s most loved looks — a dark-wash denim jumpsuit, a flowing tunic with emerald polka dots, an otherwise simple top with a provocatively dangling strap made out of a zipper. Kowalska wore an acorn-printed dress with balloon sleeves and knee-high off-white canvas boots, a knit cardigan tied asymmetrically around her shoulders and her long silvery-blond hair pulled back with a metal barrette. The gathering was also a sort of NoLita reunion. Tyler Hays of BDDW attended, as did a former manager of Sigerson Morrison’s erstwhile store. The textile designer Susan Hable, who has since moved to Athens, Ga., and who came up for the event, had a shop around the corner from Kowalska’s. “People overuse this word nowadays, but there was really some kind of energy that pulled me to her store,” she said.

Fittingly, the event also paid homage to other types of small-scale creative enterprises: Brook Landscape did the floral arrangements (sharry baby oncidium, blue-purple anemone) and, along with a vibrant assortment of crudités (radicchio with honey and citrus, heirloom tomatoes with anise hyssop and Maldon salt) and fruit-infused spritzes by Lauren Gerrie of Big Little Get Together, there were breads (served with ramp butter) from She Wolf Bakery. And so partygoers sipped and snacked and chatted cheerfully about loss, partly comforted by the fact that Kowalska’s designs live outside of trends. “One thing I’m attracted to is the longevity of an object, how it moves through time,” said the sculptor Carla Duarte. “Mona’s clothing will be vintage.” Despite being a little shy, Kowalska felt grateful for the tribute. “When you’re in it, you don’t have time to celebrate the work,” she said. Once the light fully faded, the celebration itself shifted shape, picking up and carrying on indoors.

Kate Guadagnino is a staff editor for T Magazine. More about Kate Guadagnino