Runway Reviews

(LONDON) GARETH PUGH
Careening between luxe wearability and the usual outlandishness we've come to expect, Pugh's fashion average might actually have fallen slightly more to the center than usual; black furs with vinyl accents and blunt-cut shearing were just a hair left of your average London streetwear. But don't accuse Pugh of going soft just yet. Like slickers for a stroll through the breakers at Alcatraz, horizontally striped black bars on clear ponchos, capes, and minis at once censored the body and left it strategically exposed, imprisoning it in a panopticon of plastic while exposing it for all the world to see.

JONATHAN SAUNDERS
Saunders found himself inspired by the elongated blocking and bold coloration of abstract minimalist Daniel Buren (a.k.a. "The Stripe Guy"), but his linear designs didn't detract from the femininity of his creations. A sharp-shouldered coat felt floaty in gauzy cerulean fabric with an ombré effect, and a slim, straight evening column in yellow, black, and grey gained movement via vertical strips that swung with every step. They may resemble museum pieces, but these gowns were made for walking.

NATHAN JENDEN
If Beetlejuice went to the prom, what would Winona Ryder wear? Nathan Jenden piled on the pouf in black, more black, and occasional flashes of pastel to eerie-'80s high school-dance effect, but it wasn't all doom and gloom; there was emotion at work as well, like a Cure song set down in fabric. Sweetheart necklines made gowns that might have come off Morticia fit for a tragic heroine, while a short, ruffled, thistle-pink number would have captured even the icy heart of a John Hughes cheerleader.