Today's A.F. Vandevorst show was an interesting mix of poetry and prose. An Vandevorst and Filip Arickx had come up with a story, about a female pilot flying around the world who parachutes into terra incognita and begins exploring. Which is to say, Vandevorst and Arickx were riffing on parachutes and flight suits, a theme sledgehammered home by the rather extraordinary opening gown of what looked like parachute silk, with a train nearly the length of the runway. That was poetry; so too, the dresses and jackets of cotton/aluminum, which were sculpted to look fiercely windblown. Not particularly realistic for everyday wear, those clothes, but they had genuine expressive force. And anyway, there was plenty of prosaic stuff here, like the attractive silk separates in a feather print, or jumpsuits and jackets with interior backpack straps, an idea that's time has surely come. Some of the jumpsuits hit the flight theme too hard, but in general, the "prose" looks here had a pleasing matter-of-factness. A tailored vest in the feather print, paired with matching flared pants, was one look here that popped; the dresses with specially distressed pleats likewise transcended the mundane, without entering into the region of total fancy. Which is to say, this was a better outing than we've seen from this brand in a while. Much like their imaginary pilot, this season Vandevorst and Arickx were—depending how you see it—either forging their way forward or finding their way back.
