Roland Mouret is a designer very attuned to the macro aspects of being a designer—the way his business runs, the evolution in how women shop for his clothes, overarching industry trends, etc. Today, he exemplified that trait again, noting after his show that, what with producing eight collections a year, the whole concept of trends had become, in his word, "irrelevant." Mouret's tack this season was to forget about the zeitgeist and focus instead on the technical and artisanal elements of his clothes—the micro stuff, if you will. Given that strategy, it was no surprise that certain looks here felt familiar—notably, the collaged pieces, comprised of scraps of rectangular fabrics patchworked together to create varying Constructivist effects. That's an approach to patternmaking Mouret seems to be insisting upon as a brand signature. Fresher-looking items found the designer weaving grids of slits into fitted knit dresses and blowing up traditional check prints (and weaves) to the point that they began to take on a fierce, tribal property. The most intriguing looks here, though, featured an application of feathers—an idea Mouret said he stole from his time as a stylist, back in the day, when he'd glue stuff onto looks, knowing they'd come off at the end of the shoot. "I wanted to capture that ephemeral quality," Mouret explained of his feathered garments, "but make the effect last." Not a bad way to think about a fashion show.
