REVIEW: (by Nicole Phelps)
Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli have got to be fashion’s most prolific designers. Two weeks shy of their haute couture presentation and one week shy of their men’s show, the designers were in New York today, showing off a new Pre-Fall collection. At 84 looks, it was one of the season’s most prodigious. Thematically, it spanned worlds. The inspiration, they explained from a temporary showroom set up in Andy Warhol’s final Factory, the wood-paneled office of which apparently remains unchanged from the early ’80s, was Elio Fiorucci. The Italian designer, who died last year, was a New York institution whose own influences came from everywhere. “He was local and global,” said Chiuri, “and we think that fits with the way we work.”
Having plumbed the depths of their own Italian heritage and, most recently, explored African themes on their Spring runway, Chiuri and Piccioli merged west (New York and other bits of Americana) with the east of Japan here. The way the showroom was divided accentuated the differences. New York was irrepressibly colorful and smothered with stars, fringe, tie-dye, and the Chrysler Building kitschily picked out in metallic sequins. The Japanese section was subtler, with an emphasis on neutral hues and humble wabi-sabi embroideries of cherry blossoms, clouds, and flying birds on outerwear featuring traditional quilted linings. Bamboo prints turned up on simple long-sleeved dresses, pajama sets, and button-down and pleated skirt combos. But in fact there was a lot of cross-pollination. A karate gi got the tie-dye treatment, and Mt. Fuji mingled with red, white, and blue fireworks on a minidress and a double-face coat.
The designers said they were drawn to Fiorucci for the pre-Instagram, pre-Internet, pre-everything time he represented in fashion, for the joy of discovery a trip to his store guaranteed. We can’t vouch for the store (its demise predated our arrival in the city), but we can vouch for this collection. It was a delight all the way through.
