Rainbow Explosion cashmere throw by Rebecca Moses for Wild About Cashmere.

Rebecca Moses.

Cashmere polo shirt by Lacoste.

Cashmere-lined leather backpack by Cucinelli.

Double-faced cashmere coat with bejeweled closure by Rebecca Moses for Wild About Cashmere; cashmere-lined trench coat by Burberry.

Draped just so across the shoulders of a lady of means, the perfect cashmere sweater has been a staple in the closet of style mavens ever since Coco Chanel shocked the fashion cognoscenti with her cardigan suit in 1954. The sweater is a versatile necessity for the modern woman, and the luxurious feel of cashmere has been a standard-bearer in American women's knits, particularly during the fall and winter months. Unlike bohemian skirts or bolero jackets, the right sweater is always appropriate – worn over a pencil skirt, the perfect pair of jeans or even paired with a silk faille ball gown. What has remained more elusive, though, is cashmere's potential beyond the sweater.

    Until now. Thanks to an unprecedented cross-departmental collection directed exclusively for Saks Fifth Avenue by renowned designer Rebecca Moses and supported by the Italian Trade Commission, cashmere's versatility is taking center stage. The collection reveals cashmere's possibilities across seasons and lifestyles, taking it into virtually every room of one's home in provocative ways. Wild About Cashmere will be unveiled in all of Saks's 59 stores in September, featuring a range of products as diverse as handbags, a tie-dyed hammock, a jump rope, chargers for the dining table and, of course, a multitude of sweaters. As Saks Fifth Avenue's president, Andrew Jennings, explains, “By combining the world's finest fashion designers with one-of-a-kind merchandise, dramatic in-store installations and an explosion of color, we've elevated cashmere to a lifestyle – in a bold, statement-making way.”

    Jetsetting icon of chic elegance Moses was a natural choice as creative director of such an ambitious project. A native New Yorker who has called Italy home for nearly a decade and a half, Moses is known for her namesake label, years as Genny's head designer and luxurious lifestyle and home projects. With a creative vision, a keen eye for the American consumer market, a perhaps more Italian understanding of cashmere's immense versatility and long-standing relationships with fellow design luminaries who were as excited about the possibilities as she was, Moses headed up a tour de force collection. Pushing the envelope along with Moses were contributors including Vera Wang, Michael Kors, Carlos Falchi and designers from TSE, Graff and Burberry.

    When approached by Ron Frasch, Saks Fifth Avenue's vice-chairman and chief merchant, at the Milan collections last year, Moses was immediately intrigued by the unorthodox structure of the project. “It was a very creative project, especially for a retailer the size of Saks,” she says. “Taking cashmere across departments is a new way of thinking about retailing, an aggressive statement. I love vertical projects that give designers a sense of growth and freedom.” Moses was also a cashmere lover through and through. “It is simply an undeniable signature for having arrived,” she explains. Through her life in and around Milan as well as traveling the world, Moses saw cashmere as do most Europeans – as a year-round necessity, a fiber with potential usage far beyond thick sweaters and scarves. A distinction of the collection is its use of only the highest quality cashmere, which is increasingly scarce and controlled in China. The first hurdle to overcome, upon which ultimately the entire collection rested, was securing top-quality raw material from Mongolia. Once the material was secured in significant quantities, it was exported to Italy and Scotland where Moses oversaw the weaving, spinning and dyeing. During this time, Moses was conceptualizing her own designs – a diverse sweater salon that fit within her vision of the whole project as a refashioned Parisian atelier. For Moses, the sweater is the most iconic piece in a woman's wardrobe. She explains that “every woman wears sweaters – whether for black tie, work or the weekend. The sweater transcends all time frames and seasons – it truly is the champion of any woman's wardrobe.”

    While designing the sweater salon, she was also meeting with old friends in the industry to get their wheels of inspiration turning. Confirming her understanding of cashmere's versatility were the multifarious products each designer came up with. That one collection includes a TSE cashmere sleeping bag, diamond-laden jewelry from Graff and a Vera Wang dress speaks to the collection's success at pushing across boundaries. Although lifestyle is a category increasingly used in retail markets throughout Europe, Moses suggests that the U.S. is the ideal market for a collection as ambitious as Wild About Cashmere. “When trying to achieve an entrepreneurial vision,” explains Moses, “the U.S. is still the land of retail opportunity. As an American designer, I have always had the impulse to question the validity of a product, to question the process I use and to try a different way. On the other hand, Italy is truly the last bastion of luxury manufacturing in the world.” Having lived amid the rich Italian history of artisanship (her husband is a mill owner outside of Milan) Moses remains in awe of the pride and craftsmanship in manufacturing luxury textiles, jewelry and home-related products.

    Quality – of material and craftsmanship – is of the utmost importance to Moses, as is evident in the Wild About Cashmere collection. Even the pieces that are affordable to a bridge customer are composed of high-quality cashmere, allowing younger clients who have embraced cashmere to enjoy the collection as well. But what remains the key concept in Moses's definition of luxury is exclusivity. For customers who want precious commodities, Moses ensured limited-series pieces that carry not a logo to give them distinction but the wearer's knowledge of the piece's exclusivity. For Moses, a connoisseur of luxury, this sense was the driving philosophy behind the project. An exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue, Wild About Cashmere will be available from September through the holiday season.