By NANTIA BOUFA
This passed September, Mary Katrantzou starred in London Fashion Week introducing her amazing Spring/Summer 2012. The talented Greek designer, known for her talents in pattern making, surprised us this season. Rather than focusing on digital prints as in her past few collections, this year she experimented with bold and bright patterns. Floral prints animated the entire collection, juxtaposed against human-made industrial elements. Industrial fabrics were highly exploited in perfect synergy.
Katrantzou begins the show with an abundance of asymmetrically cut garments pasted with floral prints going down the runway. Dresses were the focus of the collection, fitted as if her muse was born with it as a second skin. And yet, she also peppered the collection with some trouser suits and skirts. The innovative use of prints and materials were also punctuated by brightly colored neon lipsticks. The models sported electric blue, as well as coral, violet, green, turquoise lips, as featured in the video (above), and the snapshots (below).
There were many components combined: perfume bottles, glass, cans, and metallic bits that sprinkled her ready-to-wear-art collection harmoniously. According to Mary Katrantzou, “[Human] meets mother earth, an army of petal, metal, print”. And it appears that her focus was to make women feminine yet chic, at the same time.
Her collaboration with Swarovski made her collection even more glorious, as clusters of Swarovski elements enlivened her designs. Some critics have even deemed her pieces as museum worthy.