What Bruno Basso can't do with digital print probably isn't worth doing. Neo-pop, the theme of Basso & Brooke's Spring collection, gave him a tailor-made opportunity to duplicate on fabric (and micro sequin) the wildly lurid work of Jeff Koons. What's more, it neatly trailed back to Basso's psychedelic exploration of the natural world last season.
New for Spring was a stronger interest in black and white, apparently inspired by the photos of Herb Ritts and intended as a counterpoint to all the color. It looked dramatic in a coral print and in the streak of lightning that zapped one half of a bifurcated graphic (the other half was a riot of pink). It also made its presence felt in the beading that covered the body of a dress with printed fan pleats below the waist. That item was an excessive little thing, but it worked. Elsewhere, the never-enough notion was tested to its limits. The Lurex jacquard was a little de trop, especially when it had the bad luck to be paired with a metallic leather jacket in lurid yellow. The shapes, which Christopher Brooke had been streamlining so that the prints could shine, felt tricksier, more froufrou than usual. And a pouf dress printed with the names of fashion magazines was an oddly literal misstep. Better editing would have helped.
