What kind of fashion collection would you get if in the inspiration blender you would mix a controversial photographer, a modernist architect and a Baroque painter? The answer is easier than expected and can be visually appreciated in Delpozo's Pre-Fall 2016 collection.
Led (since 2012) by Creative Director Josep Font, the Spanish house is now adding to its lines the Pre-Fall and Resort collections. Yet, rather than coming up with a bland series of designs, Font has interestingly managed to infuse in his Pre-Fall garments a demi-couture mood.
Font is usually influenced by the details of the fabrics and draped motifs you may find in wonderful artworks such as Francisco de Zurbarán's paintings, but his early architectural training is currently proving a more solid inspiration offering him the chance to create well-balanced structured pieces.
Delpozo's Pre-Fall collection moves from the work of Mexican architect Luis Barragán, combined with the erotically charged enigmatic images of Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki.
The result is quite interesting with a wide range of theatrically sophisticated yet wearable pieces with clever separates prevailing. Araki's eroticism-evoking "Flower Rondeau" (1997/2014) series with its images of nature and flowers inspired bi-coloured jackets, white shirts and sensible knits adorned around the collars with paper-like handmade vinyl flower brooches; botanical prints also reappear on voluminous maxi skirts.
The colllection features very bright colours such as a brilliant turquoise and a strong orangey tomato red. The strong shades of the garments were borrowed from the colorful work of Mexican architect and engineer Luis Barragán.
In interior design colours are usually employed to create different zones in a room, helping to highlight a corner or alter the perception of a specific space; in Barragán's architectures one hue can become one colour and all colours at the same time, especially when viewed under specific lights (the Gilardi House in Mexico City with its bright exterior colours naturally comes to mind).
The visual and conceptual aspects of Barragán's works and his passion for rigorous shapes and complex articulations of spaces that provided his multi-coloured houses with a deep sense of religious solemnity are somehow infused in this collection in which even the brightest clashes and combinations of nuances are employed to provide the wearer with elegance and serenity.
Knitwear is also an interesting part of the collection with chunky wool and cashmere cable-knit sweaters with voluminous sleeves, extremely long scarves and capelets covered in soft fringes that add a playful twist and cartoonish proportions. The knitwear offer also includes versatile blue and green lurex sweaters, at times decorated with bows at the neck.
Coats are long and at times ample, while the evening section includes crepe mini dresses with tulle inserts at the hips for a younger consumer and long evening vestal-like gowns with delicate embellishments. Though there is an architectural tension between more romantic pieces and stronger designs or ethereal chiffon and tulle and rigid fabrics, the serene poses of the models in the lookbook borrow more from the art scene, evoking portraiture paintings.
The designs featured in the collection move from Font's three principles: exaggerated and sculpted volumes, vivid colours and saturated hues and delicate embroidered elements like beading or appliqued details.
Under its founder Jesús del Pozo who started it in 1974 the brand was celebrated for creativity and commitment to craftsmanship. Font is currently following these principles, but he is also injecting back in the fashion house his own skills and passion and, if the future collections will be as coherent, cohesive and well-researched as this one, Font may easily become Cristóbal Balenciaga's legitimate heir and bring a much needed Renaissance back on the Spanish fashion scene with his combination of "moda lista para llevar" (ready-to wear) and "alta costura" (high fashion).
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Related articles
Rispondi