Roland Mouret’s Galaxy dress turns 10 this year. There have been times during the last decade when Mouret has worked hard to distance himself from that sublime frock, even as the media has never let him forget about it. Today he made a celebration of it, sending the models out for their finale in a rainbow coalition of Galaxy dresses to the delight of the crowd.
Designers feel untold pressure to innovate—Mouret included—and in the endless quest for something new, he’s occasionally made dresses too complicated for their own good, with origami-like nipping and tucking at the waistline. The patternmaking has been fairly virtuosic and the hourglass fit sexy, yet the finished product has at times felt overwrought. Mouret avoided that mistake here, opting to explore color and print rather than fabric manipulation, and fixating on the shoulders as a new erogenous zone. In keeping with one of the major trends of the season, there were a handful of cold shoulder dresses, but he made a point of variety, also showing a crisscrossing spaghetti-strap cocktail dress, a fluttery black halter top that descended into a midi-length white skirt, and one-shoulder knits worn with knee-length skirts for a daytime appeal. As for that color and pattern, Mouret took an inclusive approach, offering classic navy on the one hand and bright saffron and mint-green on the other. The most innovative print was actually a laser-cut floral motif on a pair of skirts.
The program notes announced a capsule collection of pieces made in the Galaxy dress’s image. They’re already available for sale on the Roland Mouret website. We have a feeling they’ll be getting lots of clicks tomorrow.
