Although patently commercial (and why not?), there was an appealing hint of twisted discord in both the styling and proportions of this slyly challenging Joseph collection. Take it as read that the house-specialty faux-tailored, drawstring-waist pants—in satin-coated print, velvet, suede, and a felted cashmere mix—fell wide yet with enough heft to retain break and substance on the leg. The gently remixed overcoats—in progressive fabrications whose incongruous buttons and hidden collar linings pointed to their menswear source code—had swoop and drama almost as satisfying as the slap-in-the-face shades of the shearlings.
Louise Trotter said she had been thinking about aristocratic menswear and prim, pretty womenswear, but then spiked that mundane dialectic with reference to “Pony Kids,” Perry Ogden’s 1999 photographic study of Dublin’s working-class suburban pony owners. This wild bunch was the grit in the oyster whose pearls included the incongruously full arms of a banker-ish shirt bunched below the shoulders of a slip dress, or the protrusion of frill collars over slouchy inside-out cashmere sweats. Trotter said she wanted some looks to appear “slightly off,” to snag at the eye without repelling it, and in this she succeeded. Yes this was another menswear/womenswear hybrid collection—but it was not quite by the numbers. Which made it much more interesting to behold.
