Hussein Chalayan showed off his pretty side for spring. Stripped of stagy effects, his presentation threw no baffling obstacles in the way of his audience, allowing it instead to appreciate the extraordinary complexity and refinement of the clothes. Building from a beginning of casual canvas workwear, Chalayan progressed into florals and then on to an ending of ruched, ruffled dresses with a touch of the fifties, in what seemed to be Hawaiian prints.
If that reads like a severe case of personality change, don’t be misled. When Chalayan applies his mind to a pair of cotton drill overalls, they end up abstracted and femininized, maybe with a drape of muslin in the bib. His gauzy, faded florals appeared intercut with sporty gray jersey pieces. And when it came to the girly summer-holiday dresses, with their ruffled peplums or stiff frills curling around the neckline, it paid to zoom in on exactly what was going on in that cheery “Hawaiian” print. Mixed up in the pattern is an ancient battle, fought around a modern-day hotel swimming pool, with a plane in the background; Chalayan described it as an exploration of his own ethnic background as a Turkish Cypriot, with the fifties feel alluding to the decade when Cyprus’s political troubles were at their height.
Still, like everything else in the collection, those dresses carry their symbolism with a youthful lightness. And the fact that Chalayan’s radar has also led him, this season, to explore themes that are preoccupying other designers, only goes to show his ingenuity at its best.
