Should you ever have the opportunity to meet Alessandra Rich, you will undoubtedly agree that she does not seem like a lunatic. But her weird and wonderful new collection of eveningwear made it abundantly clear that she must have a screw or two loose, somewhere. It was even nuttier than her last collection, which was inspired by two imaginary Russian gymnasts. This time out, Rich effected a meeting of the minds among Scarlett O'Hara, Miss Havisham, and Nancy Spungen, if they'd all found themselves working at the Moulin Rouge in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. There were about a hundred different kinds of French lace, some of it mesh, some of it metallic, some of it leopard-spot patterned. In other words, if Helena Bonham Carter got it into her head to design a collection, it could very well look like this one. And in other, other words, it was strangely awesome.
