Maria Pinto Finds Peace and Honesty in the Square

The collections were inspired and informed by the square shape, and mark the first time the brand is showing a print in a collection. The contemporary American designer constructed garments entirely from right-angled elements through the use of plaids and series of intersecting quadrangles.

According to Pinto, “Squares are stable. They’re familiar, trusted shapes that suggest honesty. Their right angles represent order, rationality and formality, but also suggest peacefulness, solidity, security and equality.” A large part of the collection is designed from a series of squares, including the Wanda top, the Lucy skirt and the Lula tunic. The Andromeda 105 wrap is composed of 105 five-inch squares that create a dramatic wrap.

The designer looked to the 1950s, as shown in the Mila Jacket, with its iconic, nipped-in waist that opens to the bias peplum, creating diagonal lines around the body. Other garments, such as the Glenda Skirt, composed of one piece of fabric opening into a demi-train falling from the center back, evoke the elegance of formal riding attire.

All designs are made from the same imported fabric that Maria developed with an Italian mill for previous M2057collections, a soft yet high tech fabric, making each piece machine washable, wrinkle resistant and very travel friendly.

The pre-fall 2016 collection is now available and the fall 2016 collection on August 15, both at www.m2057.com, the M2057 Style Studio in Chicago, and at pop-up shops in Dallas, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. this fall.