Junko Shimada is known as the most Parisian of the Japanese designers. She moved to the City of Light in the ’60s and created her eponymous line in 1981. Nearly 30 years later, Shimada’s F/W10 collection proved that she can still keep up with the best of them. Bright late ’60s-style graphics and geometric prints mixed with acid pink tones and Vasarelli polka dots on mohair dresses here, and black-and-white optical stripes on shearling or leather there. Finally, the psychedelic disco party was accessorized with crafty futuristic accessories in cord and plastic perched on hysterically high stripy platforms.
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What could we possibly expect from Viktor & Rolf other than an outrageous, conceptual runway spectacle?
This season the designers lived up to their showman reputations with a display of mammoth proportions. Literally. After an elongated pause between the ceremonious dimming of the lights and the blaring of the music, Kristen McMenamy emerged wearing a massive tweed-and-fur coat that appeared to be at least five times her size. Horsting and Snoeren followed solemnly in their signature matching suits and glasses, and the trio stopped at a revolving disk in the center of the runway.
As the platform slowly spun, the designers undressed McMenamy to reveal layers upon layers upon layers of looks. One by one, models masked in black sunglasses, baseball caps and boned corsets—some of which had shimmering snakeskin sequin detailing—took their posts on the platform to be dressed in McMenamy’s shed skins. Once Horsting and Snoeren had styled them to perfection, they sprung to life down the runway! The whole process was reversed midway through the show, and poor McMenamy was dressed up all over again, this time wearing the silver accordion bustle of the always dramatic finale gown as a cape.
What was most marvelous about this show was not the performance aspect. That was—as I mentioned—to be expected. It was the fact that the rich fox furs, slick lapelled jackets, sheer beaded tunics and belted sweaters were so smart, sexy and shockingly wearable, despite the fact that they had to both fit the slight models and stretch over McMenamy’s padding. It was at once conceptual and commercial. And that, ladies and gentleman, is one of the most impressive tricks we have seen from Viktor & Rolf to date.
For his signature show, John Galliano left behind the libertine mood he debuted at Dior, falling back into a style for which he’s well-known: ethnic folk exuberance. As Grace Jones used to sing, “Strange, I’ve seen that face before.” Nomadic Mongolian adventurers mixed military overtones with all kinds of exotic influences into a big pot of fur, flannel and glitter. The show ended with a series of bias-cut gowns framed in Yak fur accompanied by the usual Galliano bow under fireworks, which—in a season when most designers are channeling clean shapes and simplicity—was a complete change of scene.
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