Sharper. Harder. Leaner. Tougher.
Autumn/Winter 2006 sees a stylistic departure for design partners Fiona Sinha and Aleksandar Stanic — gone are the softly draped jerseys of Spring/Summer 2006, only to be replaced by a tougher, leaner silhouette that reflects the couple’s ongoing fascination for creating clothes with a modern sensibility that simultaneously challenges the wearer without resorting to unnecessary design gimmicks or visual trickery.
Key to this new approach is abbreviated dimension: short jackets and shorter skirts worn with vertiginous heels elongate the overall silhouette, by shortening the body, heightening the waist and redirecting the focus on to the leg.
Yet this is no attempt at Eighties redux: instead it speaks of power dressing in a contemporary way, by focussing on dynamism rather than dominance, without recourse to the shoulder pads and ostentatious decoration so popular two decades ago.
And yet, there is still an undercurrent of discreet glamour within the range; luxury fabrics including metallic boucle tweeds, camel hair and silk georgette denote the inherent quality of the collection, while many pieces retain raw edges to prevent the overall effect from becoming too bourgeois or overtly polished.
Colour too is restrained: over 60 per cent of the collection is black, either in the guise of high twist wool suiting, razored sheepskin or silk jersey, combined with shades of winter white and caramel, or highlights in gold and magenta purple.
As ever, decoration is minimal and never gratuitous. Oxidised glass and metallic thread embroideries, created to emulate crystalline structures, are strategically placed on the body to suggest the wearer’s musculature. Similarly, specially created golden prisms of Swarovski crystal contour the silhouette in geometric panels.
Acting as a counterpoint to the to the aggressive dynamism of the range, tailoring evokes an earlier couture tradition, as short jackets with bubble cut backs give a nod to the Early Sixties, as do kimono sleeves and subtle draping on pockets and plackets.
Ultimately however, there is little or no room for nostalgia in this collection, and as such, it has been deliberately conceived to echo neither any specific historical period nor prevailing fashion pastiche.
Rather, there is a mood to be conveyed: something raw yet polished, luxurious yet discreet, and confident — yet never aggressive.
by Andrew Tucker