London-based designer Alexander Lewis is making a habit of flipping the fashion industry script. When Lewis launched his label, he produced only Pre-Fall and Resort collections. And when he finally debuted a proper Fall/Winter collection last season, he made it a capsule, and engaged the artist Marie Angeletti to riff on the silhouettes he'd created for Pre-Fall. This time out, Lewis stuck to that basic playbook, but approached his collection more expansively. The terrific English artist Celia Hempton provided Lewis with three color palettes inspired by his Resort '15 reference, Palm Springs, and he in turn designed a completely new range of silhouettes bearing in mind Hempton's ideas about light and shadow. The result? Easy shapes with a ton of graphic punch. The most eye-catching pieces were the leather miniskirts and collarless silk blouses with patchwork swoops of color; elsewhere, Lewis' fluid A-line skirts and sleeveless jackets made a quieter, but no less substantial impact. Lewis was toying a bit with his typical proportions, as well as with his tone, and the jacquard maxi skirts and demure dresses with multicolor pleats came off rather exploratory. He was on firmer ground tuning into the kink of Hempton's work. Her most notorious paintings are renderings, surreal and beautiful, of images that she found browsing Chatroulette. And you could spot their influence in the borderline tackiness of Lewis' metallic leather short shorts, or the sensual dishabille of a slouchy, one-shoulder knit dress, or the bit of faux bra winking out of a top. Also kinky: Lewis' outstanding boots, made in collaboration with Manolo Blahnik.
