It hit you about three-quarters of the way through the Akris show. Where were the photoprints? Albert Kriemler has made them his signature; landscapes, famous architectural landmarks, and images by well-known artists have appeared in his collections. Tonight, not a one. Kriemler's new Spring lineup owed a large debt to the Russian Suprematist artist Kazimir Malevich, whose most famous canvases the designer reproduced on his minimalist designs. Malevich was known for using a limited range of colors, but Kriemler preferred the subtlety of tone-on-tone motifs. Blink and you almost missed Malevich's intersecting rectangles on the skirt of the white leather dress that Kriemler opened with. They were more apparent on the cotton voile shirt and shift that followed, but stripped of colors the embellishments lacked the definitiveness of the work that inspired them.
There were squares almost everywhere: in the grid-like St. Gallen lace that Kriemler showed in white, black, or amber, and in the peekaboo black wool and sheer tulle tube dresses. When he wasn't thinking along such graphic lines, he showed a trim white seersucker pantsuit offset by a pair of bright yellow handbags, or—more of a surprise—apron pants and skirts (i.e., overalls) that might've been a nod to Malevich's studio gear. Yes or no, they were a departure from Akris' typical grown-up fare. This is not an argument to bring back the photoprints; it was time for Kriemler to try something new. But the show didn't quite connect as directly as usual.
