Mother of Pearl creative director Amy Powney hit her stride for spring. For inspiration, she used the 1989 film anthology “New York Stories,” a trilogy of short films by Francis Ford Coppola (written in collaboration with a young Sofia), Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese, taking the heroines from each tale as points of reference.
Coppola’s film “Life Without Zoë,” a tale about a spoiled urban princess who lives in a hotel while her parents are gallivanting around the world, was the biggest influence on the lineup, with oversize shapes, opulent tweeds and drop-waist dresses nodding to the nine-year-old Zoë, who would play with her mother’s makeup and dress up in her couture clothes.
Allen’s “Oedipus Wrecks” film about what the “neatly perfected style” of what the designer dubbed a “blue-rinse granny” inspired the playfully twee toiled jouy prints, floral fil coupé and the pearls that circled arms like sleeve keepers.
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And a saucy tone came via Scorsese’s “Life Lessons,, which stars Patricia Arquette and inspired bodycon dresses, frilled boots and chain-trim heels via Bionda Castana. This heroine, “Paulette,” is responsible for the audacious micro hemlines of the frilly minidresses and the sportswear notes.
All themes that shouldn’t have worked together but Powney nailed it. Among the standout looks were the tulle midi dress with red velvet flocked blossoms; the serenely beautiful long-sleeve drop-waist white dress with a pearl pin at the collar, and the gorgeous metallic tweed dressing gown coat that came with button-hem peg trousers.