What's inspiring to see from Jonathan Saunders is a vision of how clean, modern print and color can contribute to a wardrobe. Back in London from showing in New York, he seemed to have both lightened up and learned a lot about polish, range, and speed of showing. He took command of a pure palette of white and frosted pastels, added the odd brushstroke of fluoro lime and orange, and overlaid graphic shapes with transparencies and sporty textures.
As part of the season's general conversation about pale color and the need for something forward-looking, Saunders' show was both a contribution and a return to form. He said he'd been looking, as he built up his ideas, at the color in the Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In; the materials, plastics, and packaging of pharmaceuticals; and the purity of early-nineties minimalist fashion photography. Then he went back to getting his hands dirty by personally screen-printing fabrics. Some of the best pieces combined movement with slightly strange color choices: a couple of dusty organza-layered shifts with rectangular prints, and a veiled layering of white chiffon over lime, floated beautifully away as their models walked by.
