I must admit that when I first saw images from Christopher Kane’s neon coloured Spring/Summer 2007 collection I cringed, finding it a bit too much for me. Despite the fashion media raving and ranting about it, I really thought there was something – in some cases the colour, in others the cut – that I really didn’t like. More collections followed, but I always spotted a few pieces I couldn’t stand. Yesterday, though, my perceptions of Christopher Kane’s designs changed.
Kane’s claims of having been inspired by the film Planet of the Apes must have puzzled the press a bit, but when the first outfits came out his inspirations became clearer. The monkeys’ leather tunics in the film turned into leather skirts, while prints of angry and slightly disturbing faces of monkeys appeared on black dresses. Yet the interesting thing was that the “ape” element – if I may call it so – was accompanied by a tailored detail that called to mind Roberto Capucci’s work.
The Italian designer is famous for his sculpture-like dresses characterised by extraordinary shapes and lines, especially his sumptuous evening gowns in which materials as different as straw, crystals, plastic and stones, were applied to luxurious fabrics. One of the most popular motifs used by Capucci is the circular cutting that was sometimes used to create wing-like shapes on evening gowns.
Kane took this motif and successfully applied it to skirts and dresses, playing with the size of the circles and with the different weights of the material. At times the circles were carved out of coloured leather, more often they gave a new shape to dresses made in the most supple organza.
The material, cut and folded, acquired structure, turning the garments into wearable works of architecture. The effect was extravagant when the circular motifs were applied to the sleeves of a dress with a monkey print, ethereal in one-shouldered mini-dresses and perfectly tailored when Kane took the virtuosity of his circle-motifs to an extreme and decorated even jackets and trousers with this motif.
It was interesting to see how, by using the motif to frame the sleeves of a dress or a pair of trousers, Kane achieved a different effect, more similar to a stegosaurus spine than to a Capucci dress. The primitive theme was also echoed by the dinosaur-themed shoes. The brightly-coloured leopard print tops paired with the tailored leather skirts were in my opinion slightly tacky, though the cashmere tops helped Kane to save himself from absolute disaster.
A final note: yes, the main cut-out motifs weren’t new at all, but it was exciting to see how, by taking this motif away from haute couture masters such as Capucci and Valentino, Kane reused it in a different and clever way for more modern and intriguing creations.
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