The hot rod from Clover Canyon's fictional Southwest road trip last season just racked up a few more odometer zeros. For Fall, designer Rozae Nichols took the brand to another oft-mythologized destination: Russia. Nichols lassoed symbols from the country's czarist and Soviet past; crystal chandeliers, housing blocks, formal china, metro stations, and frozen Siberian lakes all went into the dresses, coats, and tees. Slavic references have decorated a significant number of mood boards this season, but with its emphasis on prints engineered into stiff, corset-like tops and bell-shaped skirts, this collection owes more to the influence of Mary Katrantzou than it does to Mother Russia. Perhaps the California-based Nichols should stick closer to home base next season. These clothes looked too derivative for their own good.
