Anybody who can’t sew knows very well that, though limited by a rather restraining handicap, they are also freer to experiment and behave like children when it comes to making their own clothes and accessories.
This was at least what Tao Kurihara must have had in mind while working on her new collection.
In her designs strips of fabric were wrapped, knotted and tied together, to create dresses and skirts that had a somehow punky and refreshing element about them.
Even tulle, a material traditionally connected with tutus or, in more modern days, linked to the gothic attire, was used in new ways to create transparent effects or elaborately knotted around the body to build armour-like and arty yet wearable and feminine pieces.
Kurihara's strips of fabric and tulle wrapped around the body or trapped it in grid or cage-like structures creating interesting layered styles. Though the designer used quite a few punk stereotypes in the collection – from stripes to black leather belts and mohawk hairstyles – everything worked rather well and looked fresh.
There was a different kind of femininity at Nina Ricci’s where Peter Copping, formerly chief assistant to Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, presented his first collection.
Tulle was employed here for cardigans and tops matched with leather skirts or trousers with delicate lace embroideries or to create overlayers on long dresses, though copious amounts of lace also appeared in frilly tiered ruffled dresses and ankle boots.
Copping’s interpretation of tulle was on the light side as the prevalently nude colour palette, that turned towards the end of the catwalk show towards darker tones, also proved.
There were maybe no flights of fancy à la Olivier Theyskens, his predecessor at Ricci, and Copping made down to earth statements that work rather well at retail level also thanks to the choice of materials, ranging from cashmere to jerseys, though, as a whole, the collection wasn't maybe as strong as it could have been.
The prize for the most outlandish Spring/Summer 2010 tulle designs went to Viktor & Rolf.
Since pregnancy is still a mysterious kind of "illness" in the fashion world, Roísín Murphy’s was hidden away in a skirt-cum-jacket sort of cape that unfortunately gave her an undesirable meringue-woman effect.
The main idea behind the collection was transferring the cutting back principle people are applying to their lifestyles in recession times to the new designs.
V&R introduced the actual designs that embodied this idea towards the end of the catwalk show with ballgowns in which holes or tunnels had been drilled or with entire parts missing "woman sawed in half"/Roberto Capucci style.
There were also oversized wings of tulle jutting out from one shoulder or masses of tulle rising celosia flower-style around the neck of models almost suffocating them.
The idea was that the bits and pieces missing from the ballgowns had been employed to create the more sensible and less outlandish designs on the runway that included one sleeve dresses or pannier skirts decorated with lavender or bright turquoise tulle ruffles.
There were also more sensible and almost sedate ensembles in nude and black characterised by relaxed silhouettes and floral embroideries, though some of the pieces seemed to recall the designs from the S/S 1999 "Black Light" collection, in particular the suits with ruffles that framed the body.
Pyjamas-inspired nude/light peach and black trouser suits or dressing-gown-like coats recalled the main palette of the S/S 2007 ("Ballroom") collection, while the general idea of cutting garments seemed to be an extension of "The Red Shoes" (S/S 2004) collection in which the design duo juxtaposed feminine and masculine garments and mixed evening dresses in silk and tulle with trousers.
Martin Margiela’s S/S 10 collection was one of the weakest in the history of the Belgian fashion house and Margiela’s recently launched a perfume; V&R’s slightly unconvincing catwalk show was also used to advertise their new “Eau Mega” fragrance.
Both the fashion houses are currently part of Diesel’s portfolio and you honestly wonder how much the influence of the latter and of it's "360° lifestyle" mania is weighting upon or damaging the two fashion houses.
Time will tell, but Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren this time didn't seem to be too coherent or serious about the real message behind their designs.
A collection with such a theme should move you, enrage you, make you feel better and even make you laugh, not leave you cold.
There could have been other ways to employ the "credit crunch couture" theme without butchering with a chainsaw masses of tulle, but maybe V&R were still in their "costume designer mode on" when they created this collection.
This is why, for this time, we will maybe forgive them but, come next season, V&R'd better focus on a more credible theme and develop it in a more cohesive and coherent manner. Usually, if you do, you won't even need a popular performer singing live to cover your weakest points.
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