I'm wrapping up with this post the reports about London Fashion Week that I started a few days ago republishing a review of Jonathan Saunders' show, again taken from the selection I did for Russian magazine Look At Me (thanks to editor Julia Vydolob).
Three is the perfect number and Jonathan Saunders' inspirations for his Spring/Summer 2012 collection could be summarised with just three words, colour, prints and femininity. Having expanded and now creating four womenswear and two menswear collections a year plus working on the launch of his own accessories, didn't seem to have had any negative impact on Saunders' skills. Au contraire, his collection seemed to feature something for everybody, from young women looking for simple yet edgy designs to sophisticated ladies in search of modern elegance.
The main inspiration for the colours came from South Beach and from the sunny pastels of Miami’s glamorous Art Deco District: warm shades of aqua and peach, coral and lime, blue and mint, prevailed throughout the collection, balanced with acid tones of orange and lemon that helped the designer creating saturated prints in shades that softly hit the retina.
Yet pleasant colours and complex degrade mandala-like prints weren't the only keys to this collection: femininity prevailed in the shapes of the prim apron dresses with full skirts, in the light silk camisoles, in the skirts below the knee and in the summer coats cut with the precision of buildings by Le Corbusier, one of Saunders design heroes. "Elegance is refusal," once stated Diana Vreeland and Saunders avoided overcomplicated designs in favour of simplicity.
But it wasn't all austerity: little details such as back slits and sheer dresses with appliquéd sweeping Baroque swirls, a reference to the loopy motifs of neo-Baroque Miami Modernist, or Mimo, buildings and to the designs by Morris Lapidus (and wasn’t his motto “Too much is never enough”?) in black, white and yellow, provided an added layer of controlled sensuality to the collection.
The audience – comprising quite a few Saunders fans wearing men and womenswear designs from his current collection – approved and while it may be too premature saying that this was the show of the week, Saunders catwalk was definitely show of the day for his well-balanced mix of chic and edgy designs.
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