The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
LONDON, United Kingdom — Sequins for day. There's something rather Little Edie about that idea. Yet, give or take a snazzy hood or two, the Sibling designers were far from Grey Gardens this season, focusing instead on the fierce femininity of Grace Jones. The punchy colour card of her album Portfolio was a reference point for Cozette McCreery and Sid Bryan's latest outing, a spangly, disco-driven affair that opened with Ms Jones' epically boxy blazer silhouette and ran an electro-clash gamut of leopard intarsia and raffia-trimmed frivolity.
Fortunately none of the crazy outweighed the cosy or the craft and, despite the starry, needle-punched nipple guards, this collection was a sweet and sour cocktail of very wearable separates that ignored the fusty preconceptions of what knitwear should be. Instead, the pair treated their medium as underwear, outerwear and everything in between, from sensual transfer knitted lace dresses to wrapped cardigans, graphic two-tone sweaters and animalia pop socks tucked into tasselled loafers and mohawked stilettos.
Fuzzy brushstroke jacquards tipped a collective hat to the brighter works of French painter Pierre Soulages, cut into hooded coats and wrap skirts that read both luxe and pragmatic in contrast to a slew of bosom-baring tops and lurex bodysuits. Those felt more stage-worthy than street smart (and rightly so) however gentler off-duty garb arrived by way of slinky viscose dresses wrapped with a broken argyle pattern and smart cropped trousers and bloomers in a leopard print felt. Whilst they surely fit the Blitz kid bill, the prominent cat spots have been a Sibling staple for some time now and they could do with a catwalk hiatus. There’s still something to be said for keeping up with the Joneses, after all.
In a fashion scene dominated by ultra-established heritage names, upstarts like LVMH Prize-winner Setchu and Magliano are increasingly grabbing the spotlight, as the Attico, Del Core and Sunnei pass new milestones.
Gucci was in the air at two of the most critical shows in Milan this week, writes Imran Amed.
New designer Sabato De Sarno is thrown in at the deep end as the brand aims for a turnaround, writes Tim Blanks.
Brand DNA is marketing speak until it isn’t, as the latest Prada and Tom Ford collections proved.