W'menswear's FW19 Collection Looks to Space Exploration's Women Trailblazers

I know it’s still technically summer and I know that making declarations based on small sample sizes is normally a fool’s errand, but I really don’t care because W’menswear dropped the outerwear gauntlet already. Like, it’s so good that I’m happy I’m 5’9 because I’m not precluded from any of it, and I want lots. (To be clear, this is a women’s collection. But also to be clear, idc.)

In fact, I’m not all the way ready to identify highlights, but I’ll collect myself because professionality. This season’s collection highlights women trailblazers once again, specifically focusing on space exploration. Designer Lauren Yates tapped Eric Kvatek to shoot the lookbook and had this to say about the collection:

“The AW19 collection was based on a test program called the Mercury 13, privately funded by Dr. William Randolph Lovelace II who was head of NASA’s Life Sciences. The program was run to determine the physical suitability of women candidates for the astronaut training program. Despite the women passing the physiological testing with flying colors, the program was canned by NASA and the women never made it to space. Despite this, the women who participated are today recognized as trailblazers, whose ambitions to fly the newest and the fastest aircraft led them to be among the first American women to gain access to sophisticated aerospace medical tests.”

Okay, now I’m fully ready for highlights. For starters, the killer two-toned bomber comes in a couple of colorways, and while the green one bangs, I’m assuming the off-white one with reflective silver patch pockets sets off parked car alarms.

Elsewhere in outerwear, there’s a Channel Quilted Trench Coat that looks real right, some of the best-looking anoraks I’ve seen in a while, a perfectly puffy parka in a timeless navy blue and a red-and-grey number straight out of The Perfect Storm.

(If there’s someone out there doing outerwear better than Yates, I’d appreciate the introduction because I’m into these things and would like to know. But I’m pretty sure they aren’t.)

In regards to the rest of the collection, there are some great wide-leg trousers, a 2/3 Zip Sweatshirt with a banded waist that I’ll never be angry with and a bright orange “We Come in Peace” crewneck sweatshirt that I didn’t know I needed but now definitely need, regardless of antiquated gender norms.

So if there’s anyone in your life that’s into durable, thoughtfully-detailed, vintage-inspired women’s wear and they’re not starting here, they’re doing it wrong. But at least there’s a fix.

Check out the full collection over at the W’menswear website.