Susana Monaco Tops: The Best Buys Right Now

I always listen harder when a designer learned the work at home, and Susana Monaco did. She was born in New Jersey to Italian immigrant parents, grew up around art and sculpture, and watched her father, an engineer and tailor, run a women's apparel factory. By her early teens she understood how a garment is built. At seventeen she moved to New York to study design at FIT, then took her collection to Miami boutiques, and in 2000 she came back to Manhattan and opened her own showroom. Her own biography follows that path from family tailoring to a love of color, classic lines and the body's natural shape.

Knits are the through-line. Monaco uses them to sculpt a silhouette, and the label stretches from tops and dresses to swimwear and outerwear. The connection to making stays close: her father's factory passed to the family and still produces part of each collection. I went deeper on a related idea in Anna October Dresses: The Best Buys Right Now.

What I see is a mix of hand and engineering. The lines stay simple, and then a close fit, a neckline or a gathered detail makes the shape feel considered.

The tops are where Monaco's interest in the body's shape feels most direct. The Upside Down U Wire Ss Top and the Wire Crop Top both put the neckline in focus, while the Square Wire Long Sleeve Top gives that graphic frame a little more coverage. For a cleaner line, I would look at the Mock Neck Elbow Sleeve Top, and the Essential String Top is the lighter option for warm weather with a skirt or high-rise trousers. If you want to keep going, AREA Tops & Dresses: The Best Pieces Right Now is the one I would read next.

Picture her heading to dinner in the Sweetheart Shortsleeve Gathered Top with a straight skirt and simple earrings, then switching to the Cross Over Longsleeve Top when the evening cools. My practical note: choose the bra and bottom first, then pick the neckline and crop length around them. These pieces work best when the rest of the outfit stays quiet.

A small shift in the neckline changes the whole mood here. The Strapless High Low Dress draws attention to the shoulders and adds movement at the hem, while the Halter Gathered Dress has a more sculpted line. The Mock Neck Short Sleeve Dress is the one I would wear for a clean daytime silhouette, and the Mock Long Sleeve Slit Front Dress makes the longer line feel less formal.

In my fashion dreams, she wears the halter dress to a late lunch, flat sandals through the afternoon and a small heel after dark. What I would skip is a dramatic shoe with the high-low hem, since it already brings its own movement. With the two mock-neck options, a simple jacket keeps the line neat without competing.

This group gives the knit story a different register. The Slim Midi Skirt is a clean starting point for a fitted top, while the Faux Leather Pencil Skirt adds a smoother, sharper texture for dinner. I like the Fair Isle Sweater Skirt with its matching Fair Isle Sweater Half Zip Sweater, worn as a coordinated set or split up so the pattern has room to breathe.

The clothes feel most like Susana Monaco when the silhouette does the talking and the styling stays pared back. I would pair the pencil skirt with a soft knit and a low heel, and keep jewelry and outer layers quiet with the Fair Isle pieces. One useful check before choosing a top: see where its hem lands against the midi.

I keep coming back to the way this label treats fit as a design decision, not an afterthought. Monaco's family background in tailoring and her focus on knits give even a simple top or skirt a sense of purpose. The clothes are for someone who likes a clean outline but still wants a neckline, a gathered seam or a textured knit to make the outfit personal. Start with the piece whose shape feels most like you, although I suspect the neckline will decide it.