Martine Sitbon’s collection latched onto some of the avant-garde trends that are currently orbiting planet fashion. Plaid, Lurex, zippers, off-kilter color combinations and collaged piecings of oddly matched fabric were worked into a show whose loose theme was punk-meets-sci-fi.
Sitbon started with black plaid sparkle-shot coats, cut away over short, dippy asymmetrical skirts made of bits of layered tulle and other fabrics. Then she did complex things with striped knits in gray, black, white, yellow and red, overlaying them with curvy corded bands, in patterns that mimicked the shape of ethnic vests. There were gray satin bombers, utility-pocketed skirts and anoraks decorated with red sequin strips made to suggest harnesses.
The designer followed up with a lot of garments that looked as if they’d been chopped up and adapted from other pieces of clothing, then ended with jackets that featured zippered-in sleeves and some distressed silver space-man leather. The trouble was that Sitbon’s ideas came across as derivative and somewhat dreary, while the intelligent feminine design that usually characterizes her shows was nowhere to be seen.
