The designers looked to society’s decay, to subcultures, cults — and witchcraft — for this highly embellished, color-packed collection that at times felt overwhelming, with a flounce too many.
Designers Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi were certainly in a statement-making mood, sending frothy, frayed and shredded ruffles spilling from the armholes of sleeveless jackets, and down the fronts of sheer tops and long dresses, the latter done in bright candy colors.
The designers said they let their silk chiffons and velvet devorés shred and decay naturally. “We just let it go,” through the sampling and the fittings, Bregazzi said.
White cotton blouses came with tone-on-tone lasagna-like ruffles as did a neat white denim jacket, with a single frill that wound its way over the shoulders and down the arms.
There were bright plaid dresses — some with fraying edges — long silver sequined skirts and a pentagram occult motif that appeared across leather jackets, a long white cotton dress, and a series of colorful gowns that had a whiff of the flapper.
You May Also Like
Those dresses, with their bare backs, pentagrams and shapes picked out in colored sequins, were the stars of the show, and will no doubt work a powerful magic on the red carpet.
Preen is one of the few London designers this season to trial a capsule of see-now-buy-now looks — three in total — that were set to go on sale on the brand’s web site following the show.