Reform Cool.

Byline: JANE HERMAN editor: Sally Singer

Girls in boys' clothing? Two New York designers break a few rules.

Daughters by Obedient Sons premieres softly this spring and launches more formally in the fall as the sister label of the subversive/conservative menswear line Obedient Sons. "The guys needed a date to the dance," says designer Swaim Hutson, who launched Sons as a T-shirt line back in 2002 but has since turned it into a cool source for urban anti-suit suiting. At first glance, the new women's collection appears to mirror the men's exactly, with pieces made in matching fabrics for both sexes. "But Daughters is a narrower fit," says Christina Hutson, a fair muse who joined her husband on the design side three seasons ago. "Things are a bit smaller in the shoulders, arms, and back, though the feeling is still really masculine."

Meaning the new women's blazers are longer than most, and they're square in the waist and strong in the shoulder. Alterations aside, on a girl they seem made for a boy. Same goes for the pants--their legs are roomy, with front pleats, high waists, and slightly tapered hems. Shirts look best when pressed. "It's preppy," Swaim Hutson says. And when you see it all together, fall's Daughters--and their sibling Sons--look very obedient indeed. The way the Hutsons do it, suits are paired with jacquard waistcoats; high-collared button-downs come with tightly screwed gold collar bars; cuffs are buttoned to the wrist, not rolled. The collections' clean seams and tailoring read from across the room, recalling Romeo Gigli in the eighties, a reference that weaved its way through many of the fall collections.

Yet in the details, some ...