The Cushnie et Ochs girls love to riff on the idea of the consummate housewife. For Spring, they channeled Betty Draper with buoyant shades of bubblegum pink and peplums galore. This season, the design duo was in the mood for something more provocative, and found inspiration in the oft-referenced 1967 classic Belle de Jour, in which a young Catherine Deneuve famously plays a moonlighting prostitute (let's call it "daylighting," seeing as this girl takes calls while her husband is at work). The femme fatale undercurrent came across in the patent leather and lace used throughout, as well as in lingerie details like corset-style lacing on the back of an otherwise plain shift dress. A suggestive, sheer button-up with a built-in strappy bra was a highlight. If there was a fembot vibe, the designers balanced it with ladylike high necklines and demure to-the-knee-hems. The lightweight calfskin trench, for example, is a versatile transition piece; still, if you're feeling frisky, you can make like Deneuve's character and wear nothing underneath—as it came styled in the lookbook.
