One of the images included in yesterday's post referenced a detail from Louise Bourgeois' "10 a.m Is When You Come To Me". The latter is a mixed media installation featuring 40 sheets of music paper in a linen covered portfolio showing Bourgeois' hands and the hands of her friend Jerry Gorovoy.
Though the main themes of Christopher Kane's A/W 2015-16 collection were human desire, attraction and sensuality, the way they were interpreted on some of the designs evoked a very arty mood that called to mind the emphasis on physicality in some of Bourgeois' works.
The looks that closed the show were indeed made of Swiss lace and reproduced tangles of naked bodies. Silhouettes of couples making love were recreated in nude, orange, black, pink and blue lace and appliqued on (or rather wrapped up around...imagine a more elaborate and sexualised version of Jean Cocteau's designs for Schiaparelli and you get the idea) glittery lamé dresses with strategic folds and ruffles censoring at times the most intimate parts of the bodies.
It was as if life drawings had taken a life on their own and, lifting themselves from flat paper they had migrated onto fabric.
The idea worked pretty well most times, though lace cut-outs with random body parts hanging here and there were less convincing (some of these looks may be rather tricky to pull off as the feet of the entangled couples may confuse with the feet of the wearer creating the sort of undesirable fashion octopus effect...).
When the naked bodies were subtly and softly traced in blue lines on sheer tulle dresses or on a skirt matched with a fitted lamé sweater (if this is Kane's vision of knitwear, he should definitely expand his offer of knits), the result was slightly more poetic, in a school of art kind of way (talking about art, the show was held in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall) .
Sex was also represented in a scientifically glamorous way: the current of an electric orgasm was interpreted as a dynamic zigzagging Pikachu tail-like line that in its pink lamé version perfectly evoked David Bowie's lightning bolt make up on the cover of "Aladdin Sane".
The same line was more graphic and less glam when transformed into a strip of black fabric that looked like a three-dimensional interpretation of pencil scribbles or marks or pencil hatchings that at the same time hinted at bondage.
The collection was rebalanced towards more innocent moods in the bright orange and electric blue dresses with childish daisies and in the frocks with ruffles and frills (at times a bit redundant, especially the ones with snake prints and ruffles – yes, definitely a reference to the tempting snake, but they didn't add anything relevant to the collection).
Less innocent and naughty, the velvet dresses with coloured profiles of women, and tailored suits and double-breasted coats with hints at perversion in the brightly coloured velvet lapels and pocket trims offered instead something to lust after to consumers in need of something more sensible.
Plastic safety buckles - a recurring trademark motif in Kane's designs that assumed a metaphorical meaning in this collection (think about male/female connectors...) - reappeared in shiny metallic versions as fastenings and decorations on coats and belts, necklaces, bracelets and bags.
The emphasis in this collection was actually on small accessories such as shoes (from sensible flats to fetish stiletto sandals...) and bags with leather ruffles, to remind consumers that Kane's first free standing store has just opened on London's Mount Street.
As much as Kane's A/W 15 collection was about love, the female form, sexual power and arty life drawing classes, it was first and foremost about seducing new consumers.
Opening a shop has re-balanced Kane prompting him to offer more options and silhouettes (from trouser suits to knee-length skirts), and polish his act a bit eliminating an excess of transparent plastics in favour of more varied fabrics with sheer and see-through effects, while adding more accessories as well. In a nutshell, Kane seemed to tell us with this collection that there's nothing like imagination, creativity, seduction and a powerful sexual desire, but fashion brands are more about generating a strong desire to buy something in consumers. Kane can rest assured: this collection has enough commercial potential to persuade more consumers to invest in his brand.
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