Rafael Lopez is one of the many designers who have contracted the ’70s-sporty bug that’s broken out in London. His particular strain crosses military styling with ’70s disco glam.
His opening look said it all: Erin O’Connor with glam-rock sequined eye makeup, stalking diva-like in a white parachute-silk jumpsuit and vertiginous heels. He then sent out frizzy-haired disco dollies wearing strange stripped-down T-shirts (more strip than tee, in fact), a design idea that started out in the minds of Helmut Lang and Hussein Chalayan but has suddenly morphed into the season’s sexy trend.
A lot of white jersey dresses and swishing fringe later, Lopez segued into shorty showgirl dresses. Done in lingerie pink or with swags of blue silk yarn, these seemed to derive from John Galliano’s Ziegfeld Follies references for Christian Dior’s couture. Lopez is intent on building a retail business, but he seems a spirit divided: cool London street person or hot-blooded Latin?
