Christian Wijnants put together the bulk of his Fall collection only after his Pre-fall offering was complete, leaving him just over a month to design treatments and materials that gave the impression of taking far longer. Thanks to the ongoing support of Swarovski, he grouped tiny black stones into a pattern of brushstrokes that seemed all the more fluid because of their sparkle. Repeated across a spectrum of ivory surfaces, from fine-gauge knit to brushed mohair, the effect felt like an artist’s study writ large.
Wijnants provided many other outerwear entry points, all notably different from what exists elsewhere: the reversible shearlings in offbeat shades of jade and pumpkin, striped-down jackets with noticeably rounded raglan sleeves, and a sculpted ultramarine coat that presented as velvet but proved to be flocked neoprene.
As for the rest of the collection, the Belgian designer continued from the same Pre-Fall narrative, in which he began with photos of his mother in the Swiss Alps and arrived at “mystery women” who are open-minded enough to top ribbed-knit underpinnings with a translucent latex tunic. Real-life women may need a bit of persuading. But such touches of novelty—see also the metallic blue hiking boots from WeberHodelFeder and the opera gloves in citron—certainly helped punch up his quieter fare. À la dernière minute or long-planned, the appeal was there.
