"I was thinking of the last hurrah of the summer, that final party when there are already leaves floating around in the pool," Giovanna Randall said of her starting point for Honor's pre-fall collection. The designer held up an iconic William Eggleston photograph of an elderly woman smoking a cigarette while sitting on a run-down patio sofa that clashed fantastically with her printed dress. Randall incorporated the offbeat whimsy of that image into her signature feminine aesthetic, sourcing cutting-edge fabrics that updated the traditional floral and leaf motifs she opted to use. A laminated silk gazar trenchcoat, for example, had sleeves constructed from handwoven strips of white patent. Elsewhere, Randall gave a standard lace party frock a high-tech makeover by treating the delicate stuff with silicon, which added structure and shine to the dress. She also showed a clear stamped plastic slicker (a micro-trend for Spring). Bow necks ramped up the girlish appeal of several looks but occasionally seemed unnecessary or cloying. Overall, though, Randall's incredible attention to detail—from her well-crafted clothes to a lookbook shot by Theo Wenner, styled by Kate Young, and featuring models-on-the-rise Louise Parker and Steffi Soede—earns a hearty round of applause.
