Mary Katrantzou is a restless spirit and a skilled technician — driven to find new ways to decorate clothes, her forte.
Her spring show was a stunner as she let go of technology in favor of folklore, yielding a collection that felt more personal and approachable than ever. Mind you, hers was an extremely studied take on bohemian style, describing backstage her wish to pursue “microscopic” yet dense decoration that still left her dresses soft and light enough to roll up into a suitcase.
The way she mingled iridescent quilting, metallic brocades, Lurex-shot chiffon, embroideries, crystals and tiny sequins was as impressive as it was delicate. She kept the colors intense and metallic, which added a frisson of psychedelia.
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She kept the shapes short, simple and gently flaring, occasionally layering her minidresses over knit, space-dyed bodysuits. It was hard to identify which folkloric elements came from the Balkans, from Spain, from Romania, which was her point: obscuring their origins to create new hybrids.
That’s a recipe for innovation in fashion, and a reason why Katrantzou remains one of London’s most intriguing talents.