Jean-Charles de Castelbajac Womenswear S/S12

Neat undoes, sunglasses and a sequinned dress with a nipped in a waist that conveyed $$$ signs?  Was this an actual Jean Charles de Castelbajac show or had we walked into the wrong venue? The designer has tired of the cartoonish japes of yesteryear.  This might have something to do with the structural shifts of JCDC's company, the secondary line where de Castelbajac can indulge in Donald Ducks, Kermits and what not. The collection Rustica Galactica therefore revolved around the concept of the dystopia and its results on women. 

This meant massive grab on to reality which would explain the neat little trench coats, the jackets with the giant front pockets and the tone on tone dresses where motifs like the star were subtly embedded in.  Even the Mickey Mouse prints and graffiti black and white scrawl were channelled into more wearable entities.  The finale of a floor length silver lurex dress that had a collar of pearls was not the sort of fare we're used to at JCDC but the label is evidently moving on and it will be interesting to see where it goes.

Dazed Digital: Tell us a little bit about the starting point of the collection?
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac: The collection is about dystopia - the opposite of utopia. Everybody is talking about it being the end of the world. So I went to grab the ghost of my utopia and designed in the 60s and 70s moulds which I've done in the past.  

DD: What spurred on this more feminine feeling?
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac: I used to tell stories through my clothes.  In this story, it's the story of the woman.  I've forgotten to do a manifesto. My preoccupation is to create a wardrobe for the woman with a little wink.  Tone on tone, subtle and feminine is what I was going for. It's something you can wear in 20 years - even something like the micro-teddy.  

DD: Despite this femininity, you were referencing what've you done in the past with the presence of say Mickey Mouse?
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac: The cartoon is present like a relic, something from the past.  It's part of an antique of melancholia.