All hail Tony Duquette. For the uninitiated, Duquette was the polymath artist and designer who, among many other claims to fame, served for many years as Hollywood’s go-to guy for lavish interiors. Co designers Justin Kern and Stephanie Danan shot this season’s lookbook at the home where Duquette both lived and worked; in so doing, they essentially returned their clothes to the mother ship, inasmuch as Duquette and his style of Old Hollywood glam served as the inspiration for the duo’s latest outing.
Duquette was a maximalist, and that sensibility pervaded the collection both through its range of rich fabrics and smattering of opulent detail. There was flocked floral in both a lightweight silk blend and sumptuous velvet, shantung-woven silk/wool/cotton blends used in tailored looks, and brocade fit for royalty. In general, Kern and Danan made the wise choice, when using these charismatic materials, to focus on decorous nipped-waist silhouettes, confining their fetish for volume to flounces and blouson sleeves. Elsewhere, the more plainspoken textiles—solid-color silks and crepes—got a jolt of pizzazz courtesy of ruching or fine pleats, or, more cleverly, detachable jewelry collars or capes.
As was the case last season, the Co designers were aiming for a kind of old Hollywood glamour, and this time out, their aim was square. The clothes were vampy, in their modest way, but never campy. Perhaps no look exemplified that balance better than a simple one-shoulder crepe jumpsuit, which seemed like the kind of thing a modern-day Kate Hepburn or Greta Garbo would be thrilled to wear.
