Photo Credits: Daniel Quintanilla

BY PATRICIA ANN PARENTI

On Thursday, September 11, 2025, Victor dE Souza showed his new collection to the press and his personal clients at his store, Emanuel New York in the garment district . After the show I went backstage to look at the beautiful couture collection up close. First, I want to explain what couture is. In America a couture designer does most of the process of making a garment by hand. Victor starts with a hand drawn sketch and then makes his patterns the old-fashioned way, by hand. Speaking of hand stitching, some of the examples of hand stitching were small chiffon flowers where each flower was put on individually on a jacket sleeve in straight rows. Another example was white lace over heavy tapestry fabric on a suit, all hand stitched precisely. These examples are the makings of a true couture designer.

This season he did both men’s and women’s clothes. Many of the styles could be worn by either men or women. When I asked Victor about his inspiration, he told me “it ranged from the Victorian era, the 1980s, and power suits”, which are very 1980s.

Sculptural is the best way to describe the women’s collection with the use of upholstery and drapery fabrics to make the garments have shape with strict tailoring. All in all, it was a very ladylike collection with lots of oversized taffeta bows on the backs of dresses and smaller bows adorning the edges of blouse/dress sleeves. Peplums were seen on so many jackets and dresses for a vintage vibe. The fabrics he used were Morie Satin, tapestry, damask and taffeta. Only Victor could take a basic white shirt and put pleating down the front with ruffled trim at the collar and cuffs in the same fabric to make it special. One dress in glen plaid that I thought was outstanding had a cutout back, but instead of a zipper he used fabric covered hooks and eyes to fasten the top part of the dress which were hand stitched on. Other styles were fluid trouser pants, matching gowns and big capes, beaded evening jackets and leather walking shorts. These are forever clothes that you can wear for years to come.

Now for the men’s styles. Double breasted fitted jackets with covered buttons, and wide lapels. Matching fluid trousers in a taupe pinstripe linen fabric which looked like they come from the 1980’s power dressing. Trench coats in khaki or cream. All of the clothes are classic styles and can be worn to the boardroom on Wall Street or to a party after work.

Since all of the clothing is custom made and fitted to your body you have to make an appointment to be measured by Victor. You would be going to his store Emanuel New York with spacious fitting rooms. The address is 329 West 39^th Street between 8^th and 9^th Avenues, New York, NY 10018. The store is at street level. Phone 646-877-5877, email info@emanuelnewyork.com, website www.victordesozany.com. If you’re looking for something for at once he does have some ready to wear on a rack in the back of the store. Oh, you don’t want clothes but it’s fragrance that you love, then you can just pop into the store without an appointment and buy from the wide assortment of fragrances that Victor de Souza’s partner Dustin Lujan has in stock.

PATRICIA ANN PARENTI