Art and Craft
Fall Winter 2012-13
February 4, 2012
Madrid, Spain – This collection delves into the ambience of the 1950’s and early 1960’s, where the designers sought to recreate a world of couture through impeccable cuts and manic attention to detail. The duo played around with very fine materials and showed an overall taste for things well done, impregnated with a certain romantic-baroque flavor, going beyond the mere function of dressing.
Very narrow waists versus egg-shaped dresses and overcoats, colored python patchwork boots with high heels, mixed with Russian-esque fur hats, bourgeois ladies with country touches… The constant mixing and matching of exquisite silk fabrics printed with abstract patterns, macro flowery printed fabrics decorated with embroideries (as was the case of a long-sleeved dress with broad skirt and lace details all over) were the key elements that made the show an interesting parade of different styles enriched with countless references to historical designs.
Bi-colored dresses led the show, and the color range was varied but never too bright: white, pale yellow, forest green, lilac, deep violet, peach rose and some touches of garnet red formed the palette of the collection. Tatting details were applied onto skirts and evening dresses mostly made of glossy, soft duchesse silk that reminded of the dresses worn by the Spanish royalty during the “Siglo de Oro”. Everything, though, was treated and mistreated with a very edgy and contemporary attitude, so that the kaleidoscope of references shifted from the early Balenciaga creations of the Sixties to some New Look key elements as the narrow waists and the flounced skirts. No gowns were shown, with the exception of two final ankle-long dresses in scarlet red and light lapis blue, both of them made of soft, luxurious silk satin. A very well crafted collection indeed, not too daring or cutting edge but definitely inspired, showing both deference and nostalgia towards a mythical past, and yet determined to make a statement of contemporary class and sophistication.
