Emily Bode took her namesake collection and decamped to Paris (from New York) to showcase her first ever runway show. On one hand, kudos; on another it seems like a slight to the city that lifted her up and gave her a platform to show off her creations, especially in light of the fact that she recently won the CFDA Award for Emerging Menswear Designer. Hopefully she returns to New York Fashion Week because it desperately needs new talent that can draw crowds.

If you're unfamiliar with Bode, its roots are in taking the discarded and forgotten and remaking them into new garments that have character imbued upon them from the fabrics past lives. For this collection, a circus theme emerged with bright, striped colors, slightly askew looks and plenty of ornate detailing, almost to the point of looking quite grandmotherly - which is great if that is one's aesthetic. Nevertheless, the collection had character.

There is a homeyness to Bode's garments, part-fashion and part-homemade. It could be due to the designer's love of vintage fabrics and working them into modern styles while aiming to keep the fabric's moment-in-time integrity. There were cool abstract patterns made from these fabrics, as well as patchwork garments on top and on the bottom, mixed and matched to create a dimensionality. Because, after all, everyone has more than one facet - one's clothes should be a reflection of that.

Emily Bode's Spring/Summer 2019 collection was East meets West with influences from subcontinental India in strong focus and juxtaposed with Western sensibilities in the cut of the clothing. The stunning patterns seen on the clothes felt authentic and unique to Bode while a 1950s tailoring aesthetic pervaded the collection. For those fashion-lovers who need a bit of branding, there was some here as well but it felt like an afterthought, one that did not help or advance the brilliant fabrics, patterns and view point of the designer.

Bode's latest collection combined chic haberdashery overtones with romance, like that of a story you tell people, part truth, part rose-colored glasses. Emily Adams Bode offered quilted and patchworked clothes with added a sense of whimsy with quirky, youthful detailing on shirts and coats.