Initial reaction:
Maybe it was the recent Matisse exhibition at the Tate Modern fresh in our minds, but there was something of the artist’s cut-outs about Jonathan Saunders’ SS15 collection. Shown in the great domed hall of the British Museum to the eerie and unsettling but ultimately dreamy soundtrack from Under the Skin starring Dazed cover girl Scarlett Johansson, it was a light and painterly affair grounded in Saunders’ ways with colours (caramel, teal and baby blue) and his ability to balance them somewhere between pretty and seventies wrong.
Shapeshifters:
At first, no-nonsense pieces like shirt blouses and workwear-inspired jackets came adorned with leaf appliqués and oversize bows, but as the show progressed, the embellishment morphed into 3D ruffle-like flower rosettes and oversize leaf prints. The latter eventually became abstract shapes that evoked Matisse’s "The Snail", placed across gauzy drawstring dresses that almost resembled the vivid blue tissue paper tucked inside our invitations.
How they wore it:
Wrapped and belted, obi-style, with grommeted patent Chelsea boots.
The soundtrack to Jonathan Saunders SS15:
