There’s a sensuous glamour emerging through Pre-Fall which seems to be hovering somewhere around the ’30s or ’40s. Sarah Burton has pinned it to a theme she called “thinking about a woman’s obsession with the possessions she treasures, like her jewelry and makeup, and the things she collects.” This Pre-Fall character is a properly elegant woman, with red lipstick and a penchant for feather chubbies and velvet ankle-strap platforms, who might reach into her extensive wardrobe and choose between any number of fragile, dramatic gowns for an evening out. Maybe she was actually on the stage once, or in the movies—that would account for her ownership of that incredible Deco gold-sequinned dress with sheer black chiffon ruffles as sleeves. Marlene Dietrich herself wouldn’t have said no to that.
Well, it’s a delight when fashion can make you fantasize for a moment. Yet the fact is that Sarah Burton has steered this collection gently away from too much stylization. “It's quite feminine, and unconstructed,” is the way she puts it. The patterns of lipsticks, Fabergé eggs, butterflies, birds, and the McQueen skull motif appear as prints on silk dresses and on coats, as well as on the show-stopping embroidered sheer gowns. Just as appealing, for daywear, is the two-piece matching red paisley skirt and scarf-print blouse with a gathered neckline, shown with long red suede gloves and matching jeweled cuffs. Okay: That could come over as a pulled-together look for professional purposes without the accessories—but just in case you wanted to play Diana Vreeland for a day, the full ensemble would be just the thing.
