Altuzarra SS15

Initial reaction:

"Sinister and undone prettiness, ill-fated and doomed." There's a contradiction that you didn't expect to find one the press notes of an Altuzarra show. But as Mia Farrow's haunting vocals on the Rosemary's Baby soundtrack played out, that's exactly what we got in the dishevelled pastel gingham suiting, Renaissance architecture (slash Game of Thrones?) inspired leather lattice dresses over prim white shirts and deflated 18th century pannier robes. Was it a curveball or a step up? One suspects it's the latter.   

Stand out pieces:

Baby pastel gingham associated with chintz and table clothes was pulled taut into power suits and crinkled separates were tied up with ribbons. They were a nod to Rosemary's sweet nature and naiveté. The final passage of gold and red floral dresses, inspired by the exaggerated historical lushness of Stanley Kubrick's 1975 Barry Lyndon, was a new pattern cutting depth for Altuzarra – by removing the structures and corsetry of an 18th century pannier dress, they became something new.   

Hitting the target:

In lieu of Altuzarra's collection for US mass retailer Target launching, complete with Eva Herzigová purring away in TV ads, it seems appropriate that Altuzara should want to veer off piste slightly and push himself further as a designer. Sure it had all the unbuttoned skirt splits, the body consciousness and the unwavering devotion to the high powered female CEOs of the world but what we saw was an unexpected injection of the subversive and the sense of the historical. We saw something more substantial simmering beneath flashes of thighs and decolletages.  

The soundtrack to Altuzarra SS15:

Last season Altuzarra showed Sheila Hicks inspired tapestry pieces, plaid furs, and bursts of colour. See it below: