“We brought it back to our namesake,” Georgina Chapman said of her and Keren Craig’s more-is-more Pre-Fall collection, which was inspired by their original muse, the female dandy Marchesa Luisa Casati. And, really, what a namesake: Casati was famous for a particularly opulent approach to the Belle Epoque, replete with gold-leaf-adorned servants, bejeweled cheetahs as house pets, and a penchant for strolling about her Venetian property nude under sumptuous fur coats. (She was also, so goes the legend, buried with her false eyelashes and her taxidermied Pekingese.)
Which is all to say that Craig and Chapman—a pair beloved for their frothy creations by red carpet walkers and those who watch them—were not here to entertain any half measures: From a slinky gold beaded eyelash-fringed column gown to jewel-encrusted necklace embroideries and bright crimson satin skirts slit up to there, it was full tilt into the glitz and the glam. “It’s why I really love evening,” said Chapman, surveying one dress whose emerald jeweled bodice gave way to a small static tornado of tiered ruffles that seemed poised to snatch her up, Little Shop of Horrors–style. “You can just really go for it with the glamour.” Across the studio were more sparkling gowns in tones of leopard-print lace (which shimmered, in most iterations, as an underlayer), amethyst, blush, emerald, and gold, each one made for princesses of stage and screen and significant bank account (or occasion). A scarlet strapless faille gown blooming with laser-cut 3-D floral embroideries and a cascading ruffle skirt is the type of thing the best actress nominees will be duking it out over come February.
With the recent debut of Marchesa shoes—mostly laser-cut stiletto booties in various gown-complementing shades of suede and leather, with the odd kitten heel or jewel-toned flat thrown in for good measure—Craig and Chapman have built a full world for the Marchesa girl. And they really have been listening to their customers, they were quick to say. For those for whom a gown with a feathered ball skirt is less handy than, say, a strapless beaded lace bustier, the designers have been finding success with evening separates: here updated in narrow black lace pants with a tuxedo stripe, or black trousers embroidered with—what else?—a prowling cheetah. Casati would be thrilled.
