The models in the Preen by Thornton Bregazzi show looked as if they’d been rifling through a glamorous dressing-up box in this collection that piled on plaids, sequins, rich floral jacquards, fur and crushed velvet — to covetable effect.
Designers Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi said backstage they’d taken the idea of a “poetry groupie” as their muse. “She’s a bit like a rock-star groupie, but she’s obsessed with poetry and Edith Sitwell is her heroine,” said Thornton.
The influence of Sitwell and her artistic, literary set came through in the painterly, moody florals that bloomed on a bustier dress, or were set into panels on a floaty, silk devoré dress.
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But to lend that romantic mood some edge, the designers worked in a rock element, taking their cues from Joan Jett and Cherie Currie of The Runaways. Cue a draped skirt came covered in stage-worthy, shimmering pink sequins, or a sinewy ruched velvet dress, worn with Victorian lace-up boots. The models’ hair was also teased into mullets, à la Jett.
While the influences might seem disparate, the mismatching, magpie effect worked a charm.