Profits are up 34 percent at Stella McCartney, it was reported today. Something is definitely clicking for the designer, who seemed more in control of her confident, sexy message than ever this season. "It's a celebration of energy, freshness, and fitness," McCartney said, right after negotiating a barter deal with front-row guest Cindy Sherman. "I worship the ground you walk on," she told the artist.
This collection seems destined to ignite more fashion fandom for McCartney. The chief reasons: the clingy numbers she closed the show with. Last season's L.B.D.s with sheer polka-dot insets were a huge hit (see: Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce premiere). Today's dresses are their summery sisters—shorter and in zippy mixed prints and white mesh separated by three-dimensional swirls of corded embroidery.
In counterpoint to those slinky dresses was a renewed focus on relaxed ease: paisley pajama sets, weightless knit polo shirts and shorts combos, the de rigueur jumpsuits that she put her stamp on eons ago. Some looks were accompanied by pool sandals to underscore the effect, and the lace-trimmed slipdresses the designer opened with had a sporty spin thanks to the athletic mesh details. The embroidered swirls held it all together. "In England, summer is so short," she said, sweating through Paris' Fall heat wave. Sporty or not, a good portion of the steam backstage was coming off the clothes.
