It’s the rare bird who admits he’s not interested in dressing exhibitionists, but Gabriele Colangelo is one such individual. “There’s no sparkling embroidery here,” quipped the meticulous Italian backstage. Listening to the designer, who hails from a family of furriers, animatedly describe his seasonal fabric innovations is an uncommon experience. For his Spring collection, utilizing technology to an extent seldom seen, he shifted his attention to experiments with velvet (laser-cutting it to resemble the age-old dévoré technique) and kidassia (aka goat’s fur), transporting the materials into shape-shifting textiles and remarkable summer statement pieces.
The overall silhouette was long and lean; narrowly pleated silk tunics were paired with contrastingly hued trousers in lavender, copper, turquoise, and an eye-catching mustard. Sleeveless tops, velvet-accented slip dresses, and a wonderful velvet jumpsuit possessed a similarly elongated feel. Symmetry was occasionally broken by the unexpected tweaking of a jacket’s sleeves, many of which had extended cuffs.
One of Colangelo’s most interesting new fabrications is a variation of Kente—the West African cloth produced in narrow overlapping strips and usually woven of cotton, silk, and sometimes gold thread. Colangelo’s version is distinguished by sheared silk threads, which from a distance resemble fur. He used the fabric to create wispy coats, trousers, and jackets that were pretty and light as a feather. Many of the outfits that followed were similarly tonal and textural, at times employing pleats under transparent silk or creative use of kidassia: For a handcrafted feel, he applied the tufty tone-on-tone material to necklines and hems or worked it as stripes, adding a ’70s undercurrent and an enticing, of-the-moment feel.
