Piecing together an outfit comes naturally to Maria McManus, the Irish-born designer known for her sustainable approach to wardrobing. “I love two or three-piece dressing because I can put more ideas together,” she tells me on our Zoom call from her Tribeca apartment, breaking down her look of the day: a white T-shirt, navy jumper, ivory silk trousers, and a pearl choker from Sophie Buhai.
McManus, who calls New York City home but travels extensively, has come to appreciate the structure of a uniform and a refined color palette. “When you’re constantly thinking about dressing other people, sometimes you just want it to be really easy with your own clothing,” she says. She relies on a few constants from her own collections, mixing them with accessories from old Celine, The Row, Alaïa, Carven, and Lemaire.
Tailoring is one of her style signifiers; it’s come to define her work as a designer, crafting high-quality clothing meant to stand the test of time. On the weekdays, you’ll often find McManus in some sort of blazer and trouser combination; if it’s a summer Friday, she might swap in her pleated pants for a drawstring sateen pair or a loose linen, depending on whether she’s busy in the city or unwinding at her home in Montauk.
Materials play a central role in both McManus’s creative process and her personal wardrobe. In the five years since launching her brand, she’s thought carefully about fabric, to the point that she can identify the composition of any given piece she’s designed—or has on. The navy sweater she’s in today, for instance, is made of recycled cashmere with organic cotton from a mill in Italy. She mostly wears organic materials—wool, satin, silk, and organic cotton—but welcomes “little hints of lace or macramé to break things up.”
Splitting her time between Manhattan, Montauk, and Ireland, McManus shares with Vogue how she does summer-in-the-city style in a week’s worth of outfits. See her breakdown below.
Photo: Courtesy of Elly McGaw
Ladylike With a Twist
While McManus is known for designing effortless, does-it-all dresses, she hardly wears one herself. Instead, she’ll slip into skirt for a look that can take her from day to night; here, she’s wearing a knee-length corduroy style from the pre-fall collection. “The pencil skirt’s slim fit gives the material a more feminine feel,” she says. “My clothes can feel quite minimal and uniform, but there’s always an element of subversion.” That contrast is realized in the skirt’s exposed zipper—“it’s a little ‘sexy secretary,’” she jokes. She completes the ensemble with classic black pumps from The Row (the Ornella), plus a few staple accessories. “I pretty much wear the same jewelry every day,” she says, like her Sherman Fields bracelets and a vintage tiger’s eye Art Deco ring, gifted to her by her grandfather-in-law after she got engaged.
