A designer can fight against her nature for only so long. For spring, Mary Katrantzou returned to her trademark prints and her Greek origins, yielding a collection that was visually exuberant — at times dizzyingly so.
Colorful optical patterns battled for real estate with frescos, chariot racers, urns and meandering Greek fret designs. These motifs covered lean tube dresses, tunics and flaring pants that — backed with a blaring Prince soundtrack — wouldn’t look out of place on a Versace runway.
It was also hard not to think of Paco Rabanne and his original dresses with metal and plastic discs joined with wire. Katrantzou’s — in pastel-toned Perspex — clattered down the runway and amplified the patterns worn underneath.
Mirrored versions of Daniel Buren’s candy-striped columns at Palais Royal in Paris were plunked on the runway, adding to the visual overload.
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Backstage, the designer recalled trips as a child to Knossos Palace, and “the saturation of color” she saw there.
“It was a really personal collection,” she said. “I’m usually more abstract in my approach, but this time I wanted to look at my roots — and distort the images with something that was op-art and psychedelic.”
The finesse of Katrantzou’s labor-intensive designs never fails to impress, particularly her short scalloped skirts, the half-moons arranged in optical formations, and the long ones marrying sheer black fabric and embroidered key and fret motifs.
She also concentrated on more demure shapes, including narrow, floor-length skirts and boxy cocktail suits with peplums. These came mainly in moiré patterns, and should open Katrantzou’s universe to society ladies.