How to synthesize the results of the U.S. election? What’s the appropriate response? Should fashion respond? Those are questions that designers will be asking themselves for some time to come. Count Prabal Gurung, a vocal Hillary Clinton supporter, among them. In fact, he found his inspiration for Pre-Fall—a Mark Rothko exhibition at the Tate Modern in London—long before November 8, but in the election’s aftermath, Rothko’s deep, moody colors seemed heartbreakingly appropriate. Gurung applied them in a blocking style to an unfettered silk shirtdress and in vertical stripes of brushed wool on the front and back of one of his draped-back coats.
As dark as the headlines have been this last month, Gurung is an optimist by nature, so color palette aside, floral prints and frills weren’t in short supply. The collection’s best dress, with fluttery split sleeves and buttons trailing down a side seam to a frilled hem, had both in abundance. His tailoring, too, came with feminine details. “Simple tailoring doesn’t do well for us. It needs to have something special,” he said. This season those special details included fluted sleeves on jackets and rows of buttons at the hems of kick-flare trousers. With the Golden Globes and other awards shows on the horizon, it’s a busy time for Gurung. For this lineup, he limited the evening options to two gowns: a beruffled chiffon number and a more streamlined style, dotted with embellishments. The message: The show must go on.
