The show notes for Tome's autumn show in New York finished with the big picture in mind: "This is a globally minded collection at a time when the world needs hope and love." Certainly there was much to love in the collection, which had a lightness despite its more profound messaging. 
New York-based Australians Ryan Lobo and Ramon Martin have built a strong reputation in a relatively short time with their easy-wear collections for women who want to go about their business with little fuss, but maximum confidence.
"There's so much unrest and uneasiness in the world right now, we just want something to make us feel happy and feel -secure and liked, and not so heavy," Lobo said. "Fashion can be really optimistic, really liberating and -really -inspiring, and we just -wanted to feel happy and -irreverent and fun and free. Hopefully, there's a sense of purpose, but a sense of fun as well." This duality was best explored in enormous, shaggy coats that looked like grizzy pelts but were, in fact, undyed, untreated brown shearling. "We put them on, we laughed, the models laughed, the stylist laughed," Lobo said. "The sheep are not farmed for those skins, they're farmed for their other products, so it's a truly zero-waste concept." Victoria Beckham's collection at New York Fashion Week played to the female form a little more than Tome's, although it included mannish plaids and Prince of Wales checks. The bustier was a recurring theme, sometimes segmented and slit beneath the bust, other times layered with a second, knitted bustier over the top.The mood was summed up by Ken Downing, fashion director of US department store Neiman Marcus, who praised its "unpretentious elegance". "I love how she has touched on all the key notes of what fall (autumn) is becoming, with menswear plaids but done in a feminine way," he told The Australian.