Pictures of Nicki Minaj with one pneumatic breast exposed in the front row at Haider Ackermann this morning will have whizzed around the world a million times by now. That lady really knows how to make an entrance! Minaj was wearing her own clothes, not loaners from Ackermann, but there was a moment earlier in his career when this designer specialized in a kindred sort of deshabille: wispy bits of silk hanging on for dear life from the shoulders or the hips. While he moved on from all of that years ago, his Fall collection displayed a new kind of rigor that looked like it could’ve been influenced by his menswear gig at Berluti. His January debut at the LVMH-owned brand was very well-received, and this was a convincing collection, too. For women inclined toward roguish pantsuits, Ackermann will be their man come Fall.
Back in his early days, Ackermann draped and twisted and tucked his tailoring. Today’s was constructed with cleaner, more straightforward lines in an uncluttered palette of mostly black and white. Artfulness entered the picture at the slightly built-up shoulders or via the gold filament that was one of the show’s only decorative elements: meandering down the front of a narrow, peplumed skirtsuit or circling the waistband of boyish, tapered, and cropped pants. He had two ideas for evening. The first was covered up and cozy, and combined chunky ribbed knits with a Mongolian lamb skirt or culottes; the other, a halter top with a scrolled neck and a peephole worn with leather leggings and a swaggering parka, was a look Minaj could probably get with. Coming on the heels of an Ackermann collection that featured slogan tees and acid brights, this one had a seriousness of intent that was compelling.
