Emilie Martinsen-Kønigsfeldt Takes the Reins at By Malene Birger

Textural and luxe materials, an earthy palette, a sense of chic balanced with sensuality and ease…. The brand values Maja Dixdotter has cultivated at By Malene Birger were on resplendent display in this bittersweet fall collection. Bittersweet, because it is the last designed by the Swedish designer who left the company last year. Going forward, Emilie Martinsen-Kønigsfeldt, who owns the label, will take over BMB’s creative direction.

The lookbook, photographed on Malgosia Bela, one of Dixdotter’s muses, opens with a reversible shearling-to-leather coat. It’s a prime example of the knock-out, but not trendy, topper that made the brand under Dixdotter’s direction an insider’s favorite. This season’s plissés feature standing seams at the shoulderline that add a touch of oomph which Mary McFadden surely would have appreciated. Also leaning in a dressier, uptown direction is a chocolate double-faced cashmere coat with a faux fur collar. Mohair and fringe further the touch-me quality of the offering.

For pre-fall Dixdotter was planting her garden; this time she was thinking about the harvest. The collection, she wrote in a statement, “is about honoring what has been, while looking ahead to what’s next.”