A new day dawns at Just Cavalli with this collection. A freshly struck manufacturing deal sparks a renewed commitment to the label and presumably holds out the promise of much better things to come. Which is a good thing, given that today's showing was all over the map. Wide-eyed innocence and seen-it-all worldliness shared the same catwalk. Perhaps the first clue was the makeup. A dark-rimmed gothic eye was at odds with ruffled vicarage garden florals. That kind of tension is a pretty standard fashion faceoff, but here it anticipated a show where the rather dowdy primness of the vicar's wife's ruffled blouse and full, box-pleated skirt confusingly followed a gold disco pajama suit. And was that a dirndl?
The box pleats reappeared in tweedy ensembles matching skirts to cropped tops that bared midriff. Boxy tweed and bare flesh are not perhaps the most compatible couple. The lace version made more sense. What worked best were the most straight-ahead pieces, like the goat fur-trimmed coats. At least they had a glamour that echoed the parent collection. Last Spring, Just Cavalli hit a note of upbeat fun that felt just right for the label. It would be too bad if that was the dusk of the old regime, because this dawn was dull by comparison.
