For Josep Font, Creative Director at Delpozo, the starting point for a collection is always his passion - art.
As usual, Font moved from different artists for the Resort 2019 season, but was particularly mesmerised by the bright nuances and spellbinding textures of the hyper-realistic cacti paintings by Korean artist Kwang-ho Lee.
The collection was indeed entitled "Cactus Blossom" and the starting point provided the designer with the chance to play around with a series of dichotomies such as the soft beauty of the cacti flowers and the rigid aridity of their thorns; the fact that these flowers bloom only at night, in some cases take years to appear and quite often only last for a very short period of time.
These juxtapositions were symbolised by sudden explosions of tulle that erupted from the sleeves of a top or from the seams of a shift dress; by contrasts created employing different fabrics such as tulle and thick viscose; by three-dimensional ruffles and textures that unexpectedly broke the linearity of a dress or a sweater and by temporary elements like detachable flowers and embroideries appliqued on dresses, blouses and jackets.
Font also managed to reproduce, employing yards of fluffy tulle, the illusionary soft tangle of thorns in Kwang-ho Lee's paintings, being an architect, though, the designer didn't forget about rigid geometries and included ample cotton and poplin dresses and shirts characterised by trapezoidal silhouettes.
Though at times the red and aqua green shades in the collection were reminiscent of the main colours for the S/S 18 designs, the Resort 19 luminous palette - and in particular that emphasis on different shades of pink including salmon, flesh, rose and raspberry, combined with jade and ruby red - was inspired by the illustrations of Charlotte Ager.
Font also played with printed motifs such as stripes and with patterns: he constructed his red and white/light blue and white striped designs in a simple yet clever way, sewing the striped lines in different directions to create optical illusions.
The theme of illusions was also behind the translucid knitwear covered with floral embroidery and inspired by jellyfish, but also by the X-rayed images of flowers by Bryan Whitney.
The accessory line was enriched by a series of pieces including buckle shaped "Cactus" bags, multicoloured moccasins with three-dimensional floral motifs and water lily leather belts that called to mind the floral belts from the A/W 18 collection.
Kwang-ho Lee's cacti with their tangled branches prevailed over the other inspirations, but there is also something else that links Font with the Korean artist, but with Whitney as well.
Kwang-ho Lee is known for being painstakingly precise in rendering his cacti, the same could be said about Font and his well-sculpted and defined shapes and silhouttes; Whitney uses the X-ray technique to reduce a flower to its bones and reveal its essence, in the same way as Font often employs transparencies to reveal the structure of his pieces and therefore the essence of his designs.
In a nutshell, a collection that coherently moves from art, often hides in its fabrics, textiles and silhouettes more than just a palette, a pattern or a motif borrowed from a famous work, but displays more profound links with the artists that inspired it.
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