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Eileen Fisher: ‘We want all women to want to wear our clothes’

Comfortable. Easy. Chic. These are words fashion designer Eileen Fisher lives by, and, if a younger clientele wants to join her older customers in wearing her clothes, that’s just fine by her.

“Sometimes you just need to take a leap,” she says. “I think the big message is that we’re including more women … We want all women to want to wear our clothes.”

We caught up with Fisher before a recent appearance at Saks Fifth Avenue in Cherry Creek — and after she took a skiing break in Steamboat Springs.

“Who cares about clothes when you can ski in the mountains?” she told about 250 women as she kicked off a fashion show featuring her spring collection — one that brings in a fresh vibe.

Fisher says part of that vibe comes via her 16-year-old daughter, Sasha, who modeled a few Fisher looks in the runway show. She says a key to her current process is being a mom and listening to her daughter’s ideas.

“But I think I still have some pretty good ideas, too,” she says. “Some companies change direction and then they throw out the old designers and get a bunch of new designers and we figure, hey, you know, we don’t have to do that we can blend it all. Because we’re so much about including everyone, we want to have people of all ages, all sizes, all body types, all colors. We want to serve everyone, we want to bring everybody into our world.”

For spring, Fisher says she’s all about gray — but you’ll find color, too.

“For me, it’s always about black, white and gray, but for my daughter, it’s all about color, so I think we need to do both,” she says. “There’s a rustic look and sort of a blingy look where we’ve combined sequins with linens and we had a lot of fun with that,” she says.

An organic linen dress with sequins, $248, paired with a cotton trench, $258, and linen cotton scarf, $158, might appeal to Mom, while her daughter might prefer a slim organic denim ankle jean, $148, worn with a silk tank, $118, and easy vest, $158.

Turns out, eco-options are plentiful in Fisher’s collection.

“We have a lot of passionate people in the company who care a lot about the environment,” Fisher says. “We’ve been on this for years.” She says about 75 percent of the cotton in the line is organic, and that 80 percent of the spring line is machine washable.

“So much of what we do is the idea of comfort,” she says. “People think that you can’t have comfort and be eco-conscious and look good. But that’s our core value: Our clothes are extremely comfortable, but they have to be elegant, too. … We can make clothes that last a long time. I hate waste, so I make things that are going to last.”

For Fisher, it’s all about “fun simple clothes put together in all kinds of creative ways.”

“I started the business almost 26 years ago,” she says. “I loved fabric, I loved simple things, I was really inspired by the Japanese aesthetic. … I came through the women’s movement in the ’60s, so clothes need to be about freedom and movement. Clothes have to feel good and look good.”

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