Daily Front Row

2012 October 1

Paris Spring 2013: Akris, John Galliano

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Akris Spring 2013
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(PARIS) Akris 
With nine decades of history to cull from, Akris trotted out quite the expansive 90-look array for the occasion. Hence, wide ranging is an understatement, with everything from the sexy (see: the opening lineup of transparent black frocks, leaving little to the imagination, accompanied by cropped leather trou and perforated hides, also in noir-on-noir) to the more demure (schoolgirl pleats, slightly flared and done in myriad fabrications). An infectiously peppy marigold storyline was a highlight, literally, as was the subsequent foray into gradations of salmon and Pepto pink which wrapped up designer Albert Kreimler's latest. Those clingy, see-through slipdresses peppering throughout? Better left on the sidelines, what with so many stronger experiments in sharply tailored monochrome to mull over. 

John Galliano
Was it the oversized folds of fabric drowning the silhouette with aplomb? Or perhaps the massive hats by Stephen Jones, fashioned from a hairy looking material, obscuring half of the mods' visages? The result: quite a bit of mystery, courtesy of Bill Gaytten post-Dior, and drame of a more sophisticated twist (or two or ten) than the namesake designer's signature shock-and-awe (or offend, and the case may be) factor. Frothy peels of filmy, transparent blue blouses and tulip-shaped skirts were rather lust-inducing, and a smattering of melon-hued dresses were quite delicious, like a stiff gown scrunched to perfection and done with an asymmetrical hem and boatneck or a shorter shift of the same color, appealing in its simplicity, all dropped-waist and rounded neckline and not much else. And those massive displays of volume play weren't necessarily intended for flattery, sure, but the entertainment factor was certainly there.