Sander Lak Joins CFDA Calendar Ahead of NYFW

Sander Lak is bringing the Netherlands to New York Fashion Week. 

After his much-hyped Sies Marjan label became a COVID-19 casualty, the Dutch designer has been quietly developing a new genderless venture, Sanderlak, with backing from angel investors. Now three collections deep, he’s returning to the city that minted him a fashion star for a reshowing of the latest one, loosely inspired by his teenage years in Holland. 

Sanderlak joins the CFDA calendar in an official capacity, taking an evening slot on Sept. 11. The on-model presentation will be held at Lak’s pop-up store in Chinatown and feature an interactive component, he said.

Despite hosting showroom appointments in Paris during men’s week, Lak said he feels adamantly that “we are, in fact, a New York-based brand.”

“Even though the concept of Sanderlak is somewhat nomadic, with each year built around the colors and textures of a different location, it felt important to celebrate that,” he noted. “New York has offered me so much, and I am so grateful for the platform and community it has given me.”

Lak’s first and second collections — evocative of Los Angeles by day and by night, respectively — will also be displayed, taking editors and buyers on a journey through the world of Sanderlak thus far. 

Rather than reinvent the wheel each season, Lak tweaks signature pieces, like pajama-style separates and outerwear with a louche 1970s attitude. A skilled colorist who rose through the ranks at Dries Van Noten, he works somewhat like an Impressionist painter, conjuring places through different palettes. 

For his latest offering, Lak contrasted the deep blues of stormy Holland skies with the petal pinks and purples of its tulip fields. Elsewhere, jolts of orange were in homage to the national color of the Netherlands. 

Lak also drew on the “linear” and “pragmatic” mentality of Dutchmen, inspiring his use of checks and stripes. “But I wanted to make them more dramatic and expressive, so I twisted them, draped them and tried to break the rigidity of those graphic lines,” he explained.

While Sanderlak may be rooted in a nomadic lifestyle, the man behind it is working to gain a more solid footing in the New York market, where he already has significant name recognition from Sies Marjan. 

Earlier this month he took Sanderlak on the road to Montauk and last week he headed to Sag Harbor for another Hamptons pop-up. Additionally, Lak extended the lease on his Chinatown space, which opened in May originally for one month, and he hopes to turn it into a permanent home. 

As for whether he’ll be a NYFW regular, Lak said: “I’ll always try to participate in some way.”

“I’m sure that, in the future, another fashion show will happen, but I’m taking my time. Small steps. There is a lifetime of milestones to reach and dream about.”