Emily Bode presents her collection, Bode, like most fashion brands: seasonally, with a six-month lead time. But last July at her second New York Fashion Week Men’s presentation, the 28-year-old designer says attendees were asking her to buy pieces on the spot: “People were like, ‘Alright, I want that, can you hold it for me and I’ll pick it up next week?’” Bode’s collection is almost entirely fabricated out of vintage textiles, from brilliantly-patterned quilts to antique table linens, which are lovingly mended and repurposed into boxy workwear jackets and billowy trousers. Inspired by her uncle’s attic in the south of France, the spring 2018 collection’s homey patchwork shirts and hand-stitched jackets carried a heavy sense of nostalgia, making each feel more like treasures to be collected than mere clothes to be bought. Though it seemingly flies in the face of fashion’s relentless push toward the future, at a fashion week where, as far as I could tell, few shows were inspiring editors and buyers to rush backstage and place personal orders, Bode’s presentation was among the most impactful moments.

Emily Bode in her Lower East Side apartment-turned-showroom

On Monday morning, Bode [pronounced BOH-dee] will return to NYFW as the the season’s opener, solidifying the young designer’s status as a rising star. Bode grew up in the Atlanta suburbs in a family of heirloom enthusiasts. Her grandfather collected early American antiques, and her mom and aunts took her to antique shows and markets in Atlanta and Cape Cod. The bug stuck: Bode moved to New York in 2008 to attend Parsons, where she began using vintage fabrics to make clothes. The Bode silhouettes don’t change much season-to-season, but the fabrics—and there are over 220 featured in Fall 2018—don’t hang around long, as she often only has enough yardage to make a few pieces. Bode’s forthcoming collection was inspired by a mentor in the obscure history of traditional craft: a septuagenarian quilt dealer named Homer on Cape Cod whose insights, like why a shade called “Nile Green” was popular during the Depression Era, guided her fabric selection. (Apparently because 1930s government-issued paint was green.)