A vivid image of the Jazz Age, that pre-Depression moment of unholy hedonism and drunken frolics, is hopped-up flappers plunging into the fountain outside the Plaza hotel in New York. Veronica Etro summoned up a new Jazz Age with her latest collection, and she came pretty close to conveying the unhinged waywardness of the original. What stood out instantly: no paisley! Or at least the signature family pattern was unrecognizably deconstructed into black-and-white Art Deco graphics, which appeared, for instance, in a kimono coat that would do a flapper proud. Another thing: The palette was sorbet, where once it would have been a symphony of primary colors.
Etro adapted the work of the futurist artist Fortunato Depero for vivid patterns. The Chrysler Building reappeared again (it was a touchstone for Frida Giannini, too) in block-print geometry. But the spirit of the era was also pretty obvious in a Hollywood-worthy charmeuse column, with a fringed bed jacket. As the show climaxed, Sigrid Agren emerged in a gold torso-ed dress with a deep-V neckline and a skirt of lilac plissé. That dress, the saxes tootling frantically on the soundtrack, flappers in the fountain, all begs the question: After this wild party, can the crash be far behind?
