Maison Common Designer Swoops Into Houston, Joining Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams In a Western Fashion Moment

As Munich-based designer Rieke Common introduced her fall/winter 2024 Maison Common collection to a VIP clutch of lunching ladies at Houston’s Elizabeth Anthony store, she was stumped by the enthusiasm for the designs coupled with references to rodeo.

What is this rodeo thing, she wondered as models donning her Wild Wild West collection strolled around the luncheon tables. The delicate silk blouses detailed with cactus, skirts and jackets embellished with iconic Western symbols, and that fabulous dress patterned with Wild West scenes — cowboys on horseback, red rock images, lassos in the air — stood out as being perfect for the Houston Rodeo and more.

“It’s like a fifth season, right? This rodeo,” Common asked. “They keep saying ‘This I’m going to wear to the rodeo.’ What are they talking about?”

Houston Rodeo fever aside, Common divined the Western theme last summer after vacationing in Arizona and visiting the Grand Canyon. The “vast country, the wildness and freedom” inspired her and as with each of her collections Common needed a theme for fall/winter 2024. She landed on the Wild Wild West and began designing.

Shortly after, Yellowstone began airing in Europe. In January, Pharrell Williams introduced his own Western-centric men’s collection for Louis Vuitton.

“OK fine we are so like right on the money,” she recalled telling herself. “What can be better? And then Beyoncé comes out with this Texas album. . . It was somehow in the air.”

The Maison Common Wild Wild West collection will arrive in Elizabeth Anthony mid- to late-summer. Not all pieces in the collection have a Western bent although the fringed suede skirt and full-legged denim jeans certainly embody a Texan oeuvre. But all have Common’s luxe touch, her attention to detail and fine tailoring.

Known for her “happy” designs, the looks in Common’s new collection include a lacy black cocktail dress, a black bead embellished cocktail dress, flowing patterned skirts, lady like cropped jackets and more.

Maison Common Is a Maison Size Apart

What sets Maison Common apart from other European houses, Rieke Common says, is not only her design joie de vivre but also the range of sizes. Her designs go up to a size 20.

“There is nobody else in this kind of luxury market that does it,” she notes. “You cannot buy a decent suit, a nice jacket and a beautiful blouse made from Italian fabric, from Paris lace, prints from Como in a size 16, 18, 20. You can’t get it. Nobody does it. So this puts us on top.”

Common points to women in their 30s, 40s and 50s who are accustomed to wearing Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Valentino and the like who then reach menopause and their bodies change. They are no longer svelte. There is no one else in the market to provide luxury clothes for this woman, Common notes.

She adds that she uses the same European mills as the other top European labels. So she is able to provide the same luxury and quality that women grow accustomed to in their youth. Another point, 80 percent of Maison Common clothing is made in Germany.

Luncheon host and Elizabeth Anthony owner Julie Roberts tapped Tony’s to cater the affair with a German inspired menu in a nod to Rieke Common’s heritage.