Dayton Rinks and Emilia Buccolo of Smith & Smith are not what you would expect New York fashion school grads to be like. In a market full of peacockish designs, where every season there is demand to make something more extravagant than the last, this duo shines through with easy, pared-down garments that you don't have to think about. Last week we visited their studio in lower Manhattan and it was exactly how you would imagine: simple and clean with a few rare and covetable items, like a basketball signed by Michael Jordan placed atop a white mantle. We chatted with the pair about foam shorts, the 90s, and the future of fashion.
Shop all Smith & Smith HERE.
Shannan Elinor Smith: How did you guys meet?
Dayton Rinks: We met at Parsons freshman year in 2008; we lived in the same dorm building on 13th Street. We shared some classes and became friends. Then Emilia moved to Spain and I stayed here all four years. We just ended up reconnecting when she came back.
What are each of your roles in the company?
Dayton: I’m somewhat more focused on design than she is, but we both input 50/50 in terms of collaboration. We just bounce a lot of ideas off each other and come up with a lot of really wild concepts and watch some really crazy movies.
Can you tell me more about the movies you watch and other influences?
Dayton: I don’t want to make it too much about the influence because we like to go pretty universal with it. But, [we were inspired by] lots of futuristic dystopian movies [that] predicted what the future was going to be like. Now we are in the future, 2015 is coming up, and that was a really big year in terms of people’s imaginations. We are kind of here at the right time and we have our finger on that aesthetic. Growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s, we were raised thinking about the “2000s” and that hasn't fully come to fruition yet.
Do those sci-fi elements trickle into your fabrics and fabrications?
Emilia Buccolo: Yeah, we are geared more towards tech fabrics. Our T-shirts are made of cotton but they have a bit of spandex in them because we are trying to be more progressive with fabrics that have been used for so many years, whether it’s loungewear or not.
Dayton: We experimented a lot during the first season. We actually made woven pieces and ended up throwing it all out because it didn't feel contemporary, it just felt like we were adding to what was already out there. Not that all of our stuff is super-futuristic. The foam shorts, which are made out of a composite foam material (like neoprene but a little softer) are getting on that side of things.
So what do you think about when you start designing a collection?
Emilia: We remind ourselves of the things that we were comfortable with as kids.
Dayton: We think of a slightly alternate reality of the 90s. Everything is psychologically exactly how you would expect it. For example (holds up a Smith & Smith polo shirt with faux collar) there is nothing new about this; every shape, every line is exactly how a polo shirt should be. But the fabrication is illusory to the point [that] it looks 100 percent natural and you're not shocked by it until you actually pick it up and see that it’s not that way at all. It’s almost like a look to blend into society.
So you guys like to play with these trompe-l'œil elements?
Emilia: Yeah, we are really detail-oriented. To the naked eye you might not see all the intricate things like the collar until you
Shop all Smith & Smith HERE.
Shannan Elinor Smith: How did you guys meet?
Dayton Rinks: We met at Parsons freshman year in 2008; we lived in the same dorm building on 13th Street. We shared some classes and became friends. Then Emilia moved to Spain and I stayed here all four years. We just ended up reconnecting when she came back.
What are each of your roles in the company?
Dayton: I’m somewhat more focused on design than she is, but we both input 50/50 in terms of collaboration. We just bounce a lot of ideas off each other and come up with a lot of really wild concepts and watch some really crazy movies.
Can you tell me more about the movies you watch and other influences?
Dayton: I don’t want to make it too much about the influence because we like to go pretty universal with it. But, [we were inspired by] lots of futuristic dystopian movies [that] predicted what the future was going to be like. Now we are in the future, 2015 is coming up, and that was a really big year in terms of people’s imaginations. We are kind of here at the right time and we have our finger on that aesthetic. Growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s, we were raised thinking about the “2000s” and that hasn't fully come to fruition yet.
Do those sci-fi elements trickle into your fabrics and fabrications?
Emilia Buccolo: Yeah, we are geared more towards tech fabrics. Our T-shirts are made of cotton but they have a bit of spandex in them because we are trying to be more progressive with fabrics that have been used for so many years, whether it’s loungewear or not.
Dayton: We experimented a lot during the first season. We actually made woven pieces and ended up throwing it all out because it didn't feel contemporary, it just felt like we were adding to what was already out there. Not that all of our stuff is super-futuristic. The foam shorts, which are made out of a composite foam material (like neoprene but a little softer) are getting on that side of things.
So what do you think about when you start designing a collection?
Emilia: We remind ourselves of the things that we were comfortable with as kids.
Dayton: We think of a slightly alternate reality of the 90s. Everything is psychologically exactly how you would expect it. For example (holds up a Smith & Smith polo shirt with faux collar) there is nothing new about this; every shape, every line is exactly how a polo shirt should be. But the fabrication is illusory to the point [that] it looks 100 percent natural and you're not shocked by it until you actually pick it up and see that it’s not that way at all. It’s almost like a look to blend into society.
So you guys like to play with these trompe-l'œil elements?
Emilia: Yeah, we are really detail-oriented. To the naked eye you might not see all the intricate things like the collar until you