Stars are recurring themes in the works produced by illusionist, magician and film director Georges Méliès. Even his Manufacture de films pour cinématographes, Georges Méliès's studio trademark, actually included the English words "Star Film Company".
It was only natural therefore for Delpozo's Creative Director Josep Font to borrow the star motif when he decided to move from cinematographer Georges Méliès for the brand's first Resort collection (the inaugural Pre-Fall designs were presented last December).
Stars appear in many films by Méliès, from his most famous "A Trip to the Moon" to "The Eclipse, The Courtship of the Sun and Moon", "The Spider and The Butterfly", and his underwater adventures. Quite often in his early films shooting stars were embodied on the screen by silent actresses greeting the spectators and sending them kisses as they travelled on oversized cardboard props.
Font took the stars and reinvented them as prints, elaborate embroideries and decorations on voluminous dresses, architectural skirts and ample coats.
Though stars have always been quite popular in fashion, Font magically made them look fresh by applying them to a vivid palette comprising the bright yellow of Anthony Caro (another inspiration for this collection)'s sculptures "Midday" or "Yellow Swing" (his painted assemblages of bolted-together pieces of steel), Yves Klein blue and soft pinks, and giving each garment a strong sculptural style borrowed not from film, but from abstract art.
In December 1896, Méliès, created the Star Film trademark, with the slogan "The Whole World Within Reach" and the 37 looks in Delpozo's collection offer "the whole gamut of styles" you may need in different occasions.
Font balanced formal and informal garments (it should be noted that the knitwear offer was strengthened and that Font looked at functionality as well by making sure cuffs and collars can be easily removed from some of the designs and crop tops hide hook-and-eye closures to guarantee ease of wear) and daywear and evening wear, using different fabrics – among them went cotton poplin, linen and raffia – to create the semantics of this collection.
Raffia was employed in an impressively monumental opulent kimono coat that, covered in colourful fabric flowers and fish and embellished with appliques and sequins, could almost be considered a Haute Couture piece.
Font has also got another talent: while other designers literally borrow from or just copy their inspirations, he reinvents and re-elaborates.
Rather than opting for literal interpretations of Méliès' props such as his early solar and lunar landscapes or the depths of the ocean, Font played with patterns, added petals, and whorls, bows and knots and employed architectural elements as bodice adornments.
As a whole this Resort collection is well accomplished and assorted since perfectly balances candy-coloured delicate designs with boldly sculptural pieces: romantic pale-pink tulle gowns are therefore juxtaposed to cropped tops and ankle-grazing pants and skirts that could be used to elongate the silhouette and make powerful (rather than romantic…) statements.
Font uses colours in a compelling way, like the Impressionists would do, designs with the precision of an architect (well, he is actually an architect…) and transforms formally rigorous materials into soft shapes (a bit like Caro who turned steel into abstract sculptures…) offering wearable pieces characterised by the boldly abstract/physically architectural dichotomy.
It remains a mystery why every time the fashion industry mentions the quest for new designers at the helm of major fashion houses, Font's name is never taken into consideration.
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