Initial reaction:
In the David Lynchian red velvet cloaked, pseudo-Goth Gramercy Park Hotel, up and coming Lolita-tinted duo Ammerman Schlösberg gave us a "1950s farmhouse ska Christmas." Plaid, candy cane stripes, diner slash nail technician white shirt dresses and chunky white platforms made for outfits sent out to a soundtrack of death metal, 1950s diner tracks and Gwen Stefani ska songs. Christmas for spring/summer? Why not. "We both just love Christmas as a holiday and a concept – just how ugly it is," said Liz Ammerman.
Stand out pieces:
The cropped t-shirt featuring a strawberry with a goats head, the gingham 'Paris Hilton' skirt with built in suspender tabs ("It reminds us of Paris on the Simple Life when she worked on farms!") and the final Lolita dress (they have one in every collection) in sheer white, ruffled and purposely over-decorated to express their most extreme fantasy. "We've never been to Japan but Lolita to us is this thing where you throw on this costume and you can just be whoever you want to be." This season the duo also roped in friends like leather accessories designer Zana Baynes to make metal studded collars fused with fabrics from the collection and artist Avery Noyes to create surreal illustrations for the collection – goat headed strawberry in an illuminati symbol, anyone?
Do it small and do it with friends:
Memo to young designers. You don't need an expensive razzy show or even full blown presentation to showcase a collection. In this small hotel room, every guest got a one-on-one show with one singular model changing into looks whilst Ammerman and Schlösberg were on hand to talk through everything. It wasn't a blur of a show where you would lose your attention span and start looking at your phone. You were fully engaged. "We wanted to do something quite traditional like a French atelier showroom," they explained.
