The Cutting Class

Rodarte, SS12.

The Spring-Summer 2012 collection from Rodarte centered around the colours and textures that Vincent van Gogh used to great effect in his oil paintings. The tones were at times as vibrant as van Gogh’s depiction of sunflowers, while in other garments the tones were muted and murky as in Starry Night Over the Rhone (1888).

Much of the surface texture of the collection focused on different ways to translate the artist’s brushstrokes into textile manipulations and embellishments. The circular movement of daubs of paint were translated into swirling embroideries or lines of sequins in jewel tones. The thick, glossy texture of oil paint bubbled into lines of thick organic pleating in pastel greens and mauves.

The most literal applications of the paintings, which came in the form of digitally printed silks, gave a nod to modern technology as the thick painterly marks were mixed and blurred with different sized sections of pixelation. The varying pixel sizes also echoed the metallics that were mixed in with the collection which acted as a reference to van Gogh’s use of shimmering light in his paintings.

Images from Vogue.co.uk».

Sometimes even the most beautiful things can end up ruined by over use. Sequins can conjure up a vision of the most glamourous and labour intensive evening dresses and also evoke memories of bedazzling gone wrong. This season it was nice to see the designers give sequins back a more contemporary edge by pushing their size, shape and use of colour to the extreme.

The trimming has been given a sense of irony by Prada and Louis Vuitton where sequin inspired materials were pushed to a larger size and appeared like giant scales or rectangles, sometimes even mimicking the texture of fur.

At Christopher Kane they were given a mermaid-like quality through the varying use of size and subtle changes in colour, which gradated from opal tones through to greens, blue and yellows towards the hems of his sheer dresses.

At Rodarte they were used with subtlety as an underlayer of a skirt but were also used in a more traditional way to remind us of Dorothy’s ruby slippers. And at Comme des Garçons tiny gold sequin discs were plastered all over the hair of the models as a hint of the golden finale which ended the show.

Prada, AW11.

Christopher Kane, AW11.

Louis Vuitton, AW11.

Rodarte, AW11.

Comme des Garçons, AW11.

Catwalk images from Vogue.co.uk».

There have been times in the past where a theme of hand crafts running through the collections can be a little too dowdy and kitsch. This time around at the New York Autumn/Winter 2011 shows, the American craftsmanship coming through is focused and comes in sophisticated colour combinations. Some of the looks seem to have stemmed from the colour blocking ideas of recent times but has morphed into an obsession with patchwork and a new confidence in throwing unexpected textile combinations together. It has also resulted in some amazing knitwear and textile patterns that seem to fall somewhere between pixels and tiny quilting squares.

Proenza Schouler, AW11.

Rodarte, AW11.

Catwalk images from Vogue.co.uk - ProenzaSchoeler and Rodarte.