Tracking Haider Ackermann's progress, you get the impression that fashion could move from giddy florals to strict tailoring and back again and he'd still be doing the wafty draping and layering he's known for. In that regard, he's a lot like Rick Owens, whose work Ackermann sometimes echoes. This time around, the designer named birds and monasteries as his unlikely inspirations. You could see suggestions of the former in the ostrich plumes that peeked from the collars and lapels of side-fastening wrap jackets and coats, as well as in the parachute-silk hoods and tails left exposed by snug little leather bombers. The monastery part came across in the silk robes, although there was nothing monkish about a sexy black number that twisted at the ribs.
Ackermann's problems started below the waist. He said he wanted a very long line, but the way he layered soft, slouchy sweats or other more structured pants above leggings, and then bunched them up above the knee, created a droopy-drawers effect, even on the lankiest of his models. And besides, does anybody want to work that hard getting dressed in the morning? Much more appealing were those jackets, and a key densely draped turtleneck dress.
