Maria McManus | New York’s Sustainable Minimalist Brand Drawing Inspiration from Margiela-era Hermès Designs
Maria McManus is an eponymous brand founded by designer Maria McManus in New York in 2020. Born in Dublin, Ireland, Maria traveled throughout Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia, gaining 20 years of experience in the fashion industry with stints at rag & bone, Club Monaco, Edun, and Tory Burch. After becoming a mother of two children, she finally settled in New York to establish her minimalist fashion brand.
Maria McManus's business partner, Stella Ishi, has previously worked at Margiela, Sacai, The Row, and Alexander Wang.
Maria McManus belongs to the mid-to-high-end minimalist brand category, with price points similar to La Collection, Armarium, and the revamped Fabiana Filippi. Compared to the brands mentioned in Love Toteme? Here Are 6 High-Quality, Affordable Minimalist Alternative Brands this brand is somewhat more expensive. I categorize brands comparable to Toteme as mid-range brands.
Maria McManus's core pieces include recycled cashmere blend sweaters (typically 50% recycled cashmere mixed with 50% organic cotton, rarely pure cashmere), organic cotton shirts, and trench coats. Maria McManus's signature styling includes tying clothes around the neck or waist, and preferring slit designs for sweaters and shirts. These design elements could be seen in Hermès runway shows during the Margiela era (1998-2003), which Maria has drawn inspiration from. This will be specifically introduced later in the article.
For distribution channels, although Maria McManus collaborates with Lane Crawford in China, few products are listed on the official website.
Maria places special emphasis on recycling and environmental protection, so I'll first introduce the brand's eco-friendly philosophy and measures. Due to this focus on environmental protection, the brand's designs also counter wasteful fast fashion, pursuing practical and durable good clothing.
Environmental Protection
Maria McManus focuses on using environmentally friendly materials and sustainable production methods. The brand's design philosophy is to use less water, fewer chemicals, and reduce waste, while emphasizing the fit and elegance of clothing through high-quality recycled organic and natural fabrics. The first sentence on the official website's about page states:
Maria McManus is a luxury womenswear collection founded on responsible principles: use less water, utilize fewer chemicals and create less waste.
All of Maria McManus's fabrics come from Europe and Japan, with emphasis on biodegradable materials, primarily organic cotton and recycled cashmere. Many cashmere sweaters and skirts are manufactured in China, while pure cotton shirts are made in Portugal, and trench coats in New York.
All of our materials are thoughtfully sourced from Europe and Japan, using the highest quality recycled, organic, natural, and biodegradable fibers
Natural cashmere, a precious organic fiber with a long history, has been over-commercialized under the influence of fast fashion. The surge in market demand has led to overgrazing by goats in the China-Mongolia region, causing grassland desertification. Maria McManus primarily uses recycled cashmere for cashmere items: complying with the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certification system, through Italian factories that repurpose old cashmere garments collected globally via a process of manual screening of raw materials → sorting by color → fiber crushing and carding → respinning into high-end yarn, achieving resource recycling.
The recycled nylon used by Maria McManus is also GRS certified, even including recycled nylon from Alaïa, used to make leggings, tops, T-shirts, and other categories.
Maria McManus's organic cotton is GOTS certified, requiring that at least 95% of the fabric is organic and protects workers' legal rights. It rejects cotton grown with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and other agricultural chemicals. GOTS-certified organic cotton is about 20% more expensive than regular cotton.
But there are exceptions – for instance, the 2023 collection used American Supima cotton. Maria explained, "It's not in fact organic, but American Supima cotton certified by the Better Cotton Initiative, that they argue is better."
(Regarding GOTS certification, cashmere brands I've previously written about including Le Kasha, Lisa Yang, Arch4, and N.Peal all have GOTS certification. Since 2016, House of Dagmar's cotton has also been GOTS certified. You can search for these brands on my homepage for dedicated brand introduction articles.)
Maria McManus uses Corozo Buttons or tagua nut buttons for fastening.
The tagua palm tree, growing in Central America, produces relatively large fruits, each containing multiple seeds known as ivory nuts or palm nuts. The seeds are round or oval in shape. Collection can only happen when seeds naturally fall from the tree; otherwise, they aren't mature enough and lack the strength needed for button-making. Collected seeds need a period of natural or artificial drying to reduce their moisture content and become hardened. The dried seeds are then cut to appropriate thickness and shape, usually round or square, then undergo grinding, polishing, and other processes to make their surfaces smooth with neat edges.
The buttons are typically ivory white, light yellow, or light brown, with a warm luster that gives a natural, elegant feel. Their surfaces have natural textures similar to ivory, which is why they're also called "vegetable ivory."
Maria McManus's production process is fully traceable throughout.
Slits
The main item with slits is the blended cashmere sweater. Originally, there were slits on dresses and shirts, but in the past two years, they've all been changed to regular designs, with only the cashmere sweaters still featuring the slit.
Therefore, this section also introduces Maria McManus' cashmere sweaters, dresses, and shirts that incorporate the slit design.
Maria McManus' main design feature is the long diagonal slit opening on the cuffs, waist, or inside of the pants hem, making it easy to layer and change the look. For example, it can be paired with a shirt or show off the arms, as shown in the image below.
This round-neck cashmere sweater was released in the 2022 Spring collection, and the version currently sold on the official website is an upgraded one, with a higher neckline.
Another representative Maria McManus blended cashmere sweater is this turtleneck, which started appearing in the 2023 Fall collection and has been in production for three years.
The 2025 pre-fall collection prominently features this slitted turtleneck blended cashmere sweater, available in three variations.
The third representative Maria McManus cashmere sweater is this oversized cardigan.
The left image is from the 2022 Summer collection, while the right is from the 2023 Pre-Spring collection. This style has been in production for at least four years.
Currently, the same style is available in two colors on the official website.
In 2024, influenced by the current Miu Miu style, Maria McManus also released many Miu Miu-inspired button-down, form-fitting cardigans. These styles also draw inspiration from Miu Miu's triangle underwear worn as outerwear. The official website also offers these form-fitting tops, shorts, and cardigans for sale.
From left to right: 2024 Spring, 2024 Pre-Fall, and 2024 Fall.
The official website also sells many Miu Miu-inspired fitted cardigans.
To mention in advance, all of Maria McManus' cashmere sweaters and skirts, except for the white one shown below, are made of 50% recycled cashmere and 50% organic cotton. For better quality fabrics, you can check out Sa Su Phi
This piece below is also quite strange; the fabric is 100% Italian cashmere, but the finished product is made in China. It seems that some production lines may have started moving to China.
Continuing with the slit design, there were two slitted dresses released in the 2022 Spring, 2022 Fall, and 2023 Spring collections, but they were eventually discontinued, and dresses returned to traditional, form-fitting knit designs.
From the middle and right images, you can see that the dresses feature slit openings with buttons, which can be fastened if needed. Maria McManus' shirt slits also use buttons, while the cashmere sweaters have direct slits.
In 2023, they also tried the following dresses. The designs on the far left and right, with slits, were previously featured in Le Kasha.
The 2024 and 2025 Maria McManus main dresses are these figure-enhancing knit designs.
The top and bottom model photos show that the bottom one looks slimmer and just appears more flattering.
On the right, the 2024 Fall runway photo shows the model's collarbones clearly, and the shoulder line is really beautiful and sexy.
Finally, introducing the slitted shirts, just like the dresses, slitted shirts are rare in the 2024 and 2025 collections. These two images are from the 2022 Spring and Summer collections.
Currently, the most iconic Maria McManus shirt is the oversized cotton stiff shirt, with a slight slit on the side. One is an oversized tunic shirt, which is longer in length.
The other version is the oversized snap shirt, shorter and boxier.
Like the cashmere sweaters, shirts are also a signature design of Maria McManus. For other reasonably priced, structured shirts, you can check out CO and Prune Goldschmidt
Hermes
Since Maria McManus draws a lot of inspiration from the Hermes runway during the Margiela era, I've decided to specifically organize this section. Later, I will write a separate article focusing on the Hermes runway during the Margiela period.
Sweater Shawl
In the early 20th century, men in high society and aristocratic circles didn’t know where to put their sweaters after taking them off, so they would drape them over their shoulders. This was later adopted by the fashion industry and became a styling idea.
The left image shows a look from the Hermes 2002 FW collection, where a cashmere sweater is worn as a shawl, simply tied with a knot. Maria McManus has incorporated this look as well, with many of her Lookbooks showcasing sweaters used as scarves or shawls, achieving different effects by adjusting the angles.
Maria McManus doesn’t exclude cardigans either, using them to create different effects. Whether it’s a cashmere sweater, shirt, trench coat, or suit, this shawl-like wrapping works for all.
Waist Sweater Tie
In the year 2000, Hermes featured a same-color cashmere sweater tied at the waist.
Maria McManus uses not only cashmere sweaters but also shirts and thick cashmere cardigans for this tied waist look.
I used to tie my sweater like this during sports class when I was a child, but it was easy to fall off. Also, some teachers thought it looked sloppy, so if they saw it, I would be scolded. But with the same color, it still looks very harmonious.
Leather Bow Tie
The Hermes 2002 runway inspiration, leather bow tie.
I think this leather waist pouch is a poor imitation. Hermes is a leather brand and is known for its use of vintage orange leather elements in clothing. Maria McManus doesn’t have many leather items, and this imitation is the most unsuccessful in my opinion.
Coat & Blazer
Finally, let's talk about Maria McManus' trench coats and blazers. These two categories, just like dresses, cashmere sweaters, and shirts, are released every year. However, I think the trench coats are particularly beautiful, and they have sold out on the official website.
The representative trench coat from Maria McManus is the double-breasted rain guard trench coat, made from 100% high-quality Japanese cotton and manufactured in NYC.
Maria McManus' 2022 Fall collection features this trench coat in khaki and grey.
In 2023, the design was updated with a belt.
The trench coat remains in the 2024 and 2025 collections, with more refined colors and a shinier fabric. Chocolate brown has been added to the color palette, and it’s currently available on the official website.
If you like this double-breasted trench coat, I recommend checking out Emi Mess for their 100% wool trench coat, which is quite similar. La Collectionalso offers several double-breasted styles with a more pronounced storm strap. Overall, these three brands have similar trench coat styles.
In addition to the rain guard trench coat, the official website now offers a coat-style trench, released in the 2024 Spring collection. Although the craftsmanship and style are not as refined as the waterproof version, it comes in khaki and reddish-brown colors.
Maria McManus' wool coat is average in quality; the fit is a bit puffy, and there is no cashmere coat option.
Maria McManus' blazers are worth considering, as they have been consistently produced with good finishes. The signature styles include the single-breasted and double-breasted blazers, with a more American style that emphasizes straight lines, similar to The Row’s women's blazers.
Currently, some of the best women's blazers I recommend are the Italian lightweight style from Armarium, the French shoulder-padded designs from Prune Goldschmidt, La Collection, and CO, and the American-style blazers from Maria McManus and The Row.
As I continue to discover new brands, I will keep updating this list.
Epilogue
Maria McManus is now in my mind on par with La Collection and Armarium. I continue to follow this brand closely. Currently, the brand still has low recognition in China and is in its early stages of development, but there have been a few reports on platforms like Xiaohongshu and WeChat.
WeChat : pamperherself
These photos were taken in February 2024, and now the weather is getting warmer. Despite looking forward to snow all winter, it never came. Spring is approaching, and I look forward to sunny and breezy days.
