The minimalism trend has been good for Akris' Albert Kriemler. Everyone's shopping for a pantsuit lately, and smart tailoring is in his family company's DNA. The upshot: More than a few women who might've previously written off the Swiss brand as strictly for uptown types have been turned on by the quality of its fabrics and the sharpness of its cuts. Other Paris collections are moving away from the spare and the streamlined this week, but not Akris.
The starting point was the classic button-down shirt. (Funnily enough, there was a similar inspiration at an otherwise very different brand, Viktor & Rolf, a day earlier.) Kriemler opened with a simple, but not boring, asymmetrical shirtdress in crisp white cotton, and riffed on the idea in denim and (surprise!) a lush floral-print organza.
Those bold blooms were a bit too much on a vest and pants, but that was the show's one big misstep. You could picture a lot of the rest stepping off the runway and into real life, and not just the straightforward sea blue pantsuit or the khaki cardigan jacket and matching pants, but also the more adventurous pieces. A short jumpsuit with a bateau neck looked like Kriemler's play for the under-35 set, and he did his own discreet take on Spring's cutout trend, via a V-neck silk shift dress that unzipped at the torso to reveal a triangle of silk mesh. Both of them worked. And both were signs that Daphne Guinness (the brand's ad campaign star and ardent fan) won't be the only in-crowder searching out Akris next season.
