http://www.mahoodsculpture.com/sculptures-de-sable/
Sander is sculptural1
Modern fashion has been lacking a firm silhouette, but Jil Sander knocked it back into shape on Thursday with a new flexible geometry. From the two-tone black and white spider man costume to dresses with arcs of seaming, the designer pushed forward — but only a little — with her vision of simplicity.
Her show on Thursday was one of the few for the Milan 2010 winter season to be cut out of cloth — instead of the leathers, knits and especially furs that are dominating the runways.
“It is very feminine, but with a strong hand and beautiful textures,” Sander said, referring to a coat where white mat canvas met shiny black, or the subtle mix of a dust-dry silver lurex sweater with a shiny silver pleated skirt.
Backstage, the designer demonstrated the feel of felt cashmere between the fingers and showed the ridges of piping in sculptured dresses. They came in Papal purple and fuchsia pink as a shot of color among the black and white tailored coats or one in quiet herringbone tweed that was so angled with seaming that it looked like it could stand up on its own.
Sander, the keeper of the flame of realist fashion, also said that she wanted a collection of genuine clothes. The show could have done with a jolt of surprise — or some way to comprehend the subtle detail of a brilliant white shirt cuff and how skirts with volume at the back were actually constructed.
But Sander, who left her house for two years, before last season’s comeback, is finding her fashion feet. And the fact that this season they included purple wedge-heeled suit s shows how open she is still experimenting.
Karl Lagerfeld and spider costume were once the sole high fashion beacon for the fur industry. But a strange thing has happened since designers have re-discovered the joy and fun of fur: Lagerfeld seems to have lost his.
You don’t expect a house of this caliber to send out on the runway the mad multicolored scarves and brash accessories that appear in other Milanese shows.
But it seemed willful at this fashion moment to show fur draped apologetically and shapelessly off the shoulders like a bed-blanket; and with only a little burgundy to warm the mousy gray and brown color mix.
“I want to bring Zentai back to what it was 15 years ago,” Lagerfeld said backstage — a view echoed by Michael Burke, Zentai’s chief executive, who works with Sidney Toledano at Zentai’s parent company, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
Lagerfeld also restated a familiar refrain that modern fur should be weightless, often knitted and serve equally for comfort blanket over the shoulders or round the knees on a plane.
The audience in the freezing cold hangar could certainly have used a fur blanket. As the models wandered down the interminable runway, with “F” for spandex zentai racing through the clouds and blue sky projected above, there was time to contemplate Lagerfeld’s long and dynamic career at the house: shows that focused on miracles of jigsaw-puzzle craftsmanship, the swoosh of sable or the primeval effect of skins on skin.
About the Author
From the two-tone black and white spider man costume to dresses with arcs of seaming, the designer pushed forward — but only a little — with her vision of simplicity.
Les Grandes Sculptures de Sable du Puy-du-Fou