Exclusive: New York Label ESQUE/BY Wants to Reintroduce You to the Women’s Suit

Created with ESQUE/BY.

Until now, getting dressed by ESQUE/BY started with a conversation. Clients could walk into its New York bespoke studio with a picture, a mood board, or an idea for something they’d never quite found in a store. For the CFDA Fashion Awards, Ashley Graham did just that—working with the label on a red-carpet riff on the men’s dress shirt. That custom approach was the studio’s modus operandi until November, when ESQUE/BY made its prêt-à-porter debut, translating all that it had perfected in the atelier into a collection of its own.

Across bespoke and ready-to-wear, the brand’s philosophy is simple: the garment should always adapt to the woman wearing it. For founder Jennifer “JJ” Lee, that idea took hold when she started altering clothes for her mother after breast cancer surgery. Lee took an unconventional route to tailoring, studying computational and systems biology before building a career in tech. That background is woven into ESQUE/BY’s process to this day. The team tests proportions on screen, then patternmakers and tailors in New York’s Garment District give them shape in cloth.

With Net-a-Porter alum Lauren Matina joining as creative director, the label is taking a few liberties with the usual rules of suiting. The clothes start in familiar territory and get a little more mischievous the longer you look. A sand-colored jacket flares over a straight midi skirt. Khaki trousers knot low on one hip, and a black blazer dress has a red rose on the front and another waiting around back. There’s a three-piece suit, too, with a strapless corset where the waistcoat usually goes.

Below, an exclusive peek at eight standout looks from the collection.

The borrowed-from-the-boys look is having a moment, and ESQUE/BY makes a particularly sexy case for taking it a step further. The brand’s suit possesses a cool sangfroid that looks like it belongs on Wall Street at dusk: the sleeves are pushed up, the white collar spills out, and the burgundy tie hangs slack and slightly askew. 

The corsage has gone south. On ESQUE/BY’s double-breasted blazer dress, a long-stemmed rose sits low on the skirt, with a second tucked high on the back. The sharp shoulders and covered buttons are proper dinner-jacket fare, especially when pared with kitten-heel pumps. (Trousers, consider this your invitation to take the night off.)

All the cool girls are wearing their blazers buttoned high right now, and ESQUE/BY gets the silhouette exactly right. The band collar sits close to the neck, the shoulders are sharp, and the jacket opens just enough to show a sliver of skin. Below it, swags of khaki fabric are knotted low at the hip, as casually as a sweater tied around the waist. It’s the antithesis of staid suiting.

There’s a new draped top in the mix, and it’s a strong contender for the dinner rotation. ESQUE/BY’s high-neck blouse folds toward one shoulder like a scarf you happened to tie perfectly on the first try. The trousers are the kind of wide leg we’re always looking for, falling straight from the hip with enough room to skim the shoe. We can see them becoming a regular with a black cashmere crewneck and ankle boots, or a ribbed tank and strappy heels.

A white shirt earns its keep when it looks this good with a few buttons undone. The open collar softens the sharp black blazer and wide belt, and there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail at the wrist: a single buttonhole stitched in red. We’d wear the whole thing to the next wedding on the calendar. In a sea of dresses, there’s something a little rakish about being the only girl all suited up.

The strapless black corset is a standout in ESQUE/BY’s lineup. In a suit, it does the job of a waistcoat with considerably more menace. Here, it’s styled with the brand’s long black trousers in a cut so good it’s witchy, a silver torque necklace, and opera gloves. Together, it could make even a Tuesday reservation feel like an occasion. We like the gloves best a little rumpled at the elbows, as though they’ve already been out for a few hours.

In this double-breasted burgundy suit, ESQUE/BY lays bare its made-to-order roots. The jacket falls long from a clean, broad shoulder, while the trousers fit close through the thigh before flaring at the hem. The proportions are beautifully judged. The flare balances the shoulders, and the length of the jacket draws the eye down. The color, somewhere between crushed raspberries and a glass of red, is a pleasure in its own right.

A sand-colored skirt suit sounds trad until you see what ESQUE/BY does at the hip. The jacket’s wasp-waisted cut kicks out over the straight midi skirt. It’s a little midcentury, right down to the dark buttons, though the matching pointed boots make the whole thing feel less like a period piece and more like something we’d wear to a gallery opening.