Mary Katrantzou was one of the most hotly anticipated shows
at London Fashion Week a few days ago. For Spring/Summer 2014 she showed a
collection of structured dresses, dense with florals and
shoe-inspired motifs. There was a brogue dress, with screen-printed laces
running up one thigh and a perforated halter top, and a whirlwind of shifts in
purple, electric blue and yellow.
Her signature silhouette, with its cinched waist and
dramatically exaggerated hips, has been phased out and replaced with something
less contoured. My favourite look was a
long-length biker jacket in an almost tropical print, worn over a matching dress
and finished with purple geometric sleeves.
It was a thoughtful collection from the Greek designer, who first
started showing her Technicolor, kaleidoscopic and almost 3D prints back in
2009 as a NewGen recipient. The explosion of digital print a few years ago was
a real driving force behind her initial success – she was definitely in the
right place at the right time. A collaboration with Topshop in 2012 sold out,
bringing her lantern skirts and microscopic prints to the masses.
But now her work stands on its own right: dark, watercolour
landscapes spread across midi dresses and skirts for her Autumn/Winter 2013
collection, showing a move away from the vibrancy of her earlier work. A
slightly quieter sophistication has come through (although the voluminous babydolls for next season prove that Mary Katrantzou still knows how
to throw us a curveball).
Her Spring/Summer 2014 collection was still mostly dresses,
but there was a glimpse of what the future could hold if she moved more into
separates. A stiff, high-necked top with short sleeves was at the more wearable
end of Katrantzou’s work, but still bedecked in multi-coloured print. For now
her jackets (sleeveless, biker, short and long) are the pieces I covet most.
She might be sticking to what she knows best but Katrantzou,
alongside Christopher Kane and J.W. Anderson, represents the future of British
fashion. There have been questions about what she’ll do to keep people
interested beyond the novelty of her designs, but who’s to say that her
artistic prints won’t someday become the cornerstone of a more varied design
house – like the Missoni zigzag? We can’t wait to see whether she’ll keep everyone
captivated.
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