“Straight from the gym to the nightclub” might be a stretch, no pun intended, except for the sharpest fashion devotees. If guests sporting Leonard designs at today’s show were any indication, a luncheon would be a more likely destination. But Christine Phung has a knack for fusing the disparate demands of the house’s print-rich history and its need for renewal.
For spring, she looked to the Seventies, a time of liberated bodies but also the house’s heyday, opening with a leotard and fuchsia tights with a knitted T-shirt on top that was a dead ringer for Jennifer Beals in “Flashdance.” Jersey was therefore the key material of the season, both for a floor-skimming gown and for sportier pieces. A plunge into the house print archive provided Pointillist designs, wave motifs and of course, a pair of tropical florals. Used across disco-ball-effect jacquards, gauzy chiffon and lamé, this abundance felt overwhelming at times.
As previous seasons have shown, Phung’s work is at its best when prints served to reinforce her judicious cuts. It was easiest to see how Leonard could graft into the here-and-now in yoga-inspired brassieres paired with a generously proportioned suit, in a light windbreaker or even one of those floaty goddess gowns.
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In that respect, the collection felt freshest when prints took an abstract geometric turn or when more exuberant florals were balanced out by structured cuts or offset by solid colors.