When Juliana Canfield isn’t plying her craft on stage, she might be crafting on the couch.
The Tony-nominated winning actor, who played Kendall Roy’s assistant Jess on “Succession” and Holly in the hit Broadway musical “Stereophonic,” has taken up knitting.
“I started about three weeks ago, so I have room to grow,” the thespian told Alexa at the Lafayette 148 presentation in Chelsea on Friday. “I’m not making a scarf, because I think that’s the sort of danger zone for a new knitter. You just sort of make this pointless scarf that you’ll never wear that’s hideous. I started with a hot pink balaclava, a hooded snood. It actually worked out pretty well and I’m pretty proud of it. I’ve been wearing it and getting compliments.”
Canfield admired the artistry of the brand’s fall collection, called “Woven Stories.” “It’s textured and sumptuous and very wearable,” she said. “I love everything.”
Creative director Emily Smith hosted the buzzy cocktail party, greeting fans like Rachel Hall, Beanie Feldstein, Ebony Obsidian and Patina Miller, and explaining the inspiration for the line. “The commitment to craft is really important to us as a brand,” she told Alexa. “I have a deep passion for fabrics. It’s always been my starting point for everything: just letting the fabric tell you what it wants to be, and respecting it.
“We’ve always worked with the Italian mills,” added Smith, who gave props to her in-house team of textile designers and the expert female handweavers in the company’s New York atelier. “Over maybe the last five years we’ve gotten more and more connected with them to develop and produce our own fabrics.”
The fall line features custom jacquards, fringed finishes, exposed seams, hand-stitched embellishments and deadstock fabrics responsibly transformed into elegant new compositions. As always, there are iconic pieces like the perfect trench, an impeccable white shirt and a softly tailored suit. The bag of the season – a handwoven, fringed suede and-leather L-Tote in black – attracted a lot of attention.
Actor Rebecca Hall, who stars in the new biographical drama, “Peter Hujar’s Day,” said that she loves the label’s alignment with art traditions. “There’s a culture of women weaving tapestries and all these different influences that I really love. They also make clothes that are luxurious and really wearable and practical for all types of different situations.”
As for her own needle skills, they are in development. “I can’t knit anything!” she exclaimed. “I can barely darn a sock!”
