“I touch with the eyes,” read a quote in Delpozo’s latest collection notes, attributed to sculptor Anthony Caro, one of the house’s chief inspirations this season. Those words might just as well be the mantra of Delpozo creative director Josep Font. Not only does he touch, he seduces his fabrications into all manner of sculptural whorls and organic-looking architectural finishes. The work of Caro sparked in the designer’s mind a series of swelling, petal-like forms, adorning the bodices of his dresses and coming to rest neatly on others’ hips (still other dresses concealed the art behind their forms, like delicate, pannier-type insets just below the waist).
In addition to Caro, Font took cues from the work of French ur-director and illusionist Georges Méliès (he of A Trip to the Moon fame), whose fascination with the sky and the sea yielded star prints and some stunning fish embroideries, respectively. The fantasia conjured up this season was a delight, 35 looks all proffering the chance to get your head lost in the clouds, if just for a while. Those ranged from the opulent—an ankle-grazing coat in tapestry-esque raffia jacquard, stitched all over with candy-color raffia embroideries—to the comparatively simple but utterly lovely, like a blouse in filmy, robin’s-egg blue organdy.
This collection marks Font’s first-ever foray into Resort (he showed his inaugural Pre-Fall outing back in December), owing to the strong customer response of recent seasons. The more commercial nature of preseason collections seems an excellent grounding force for the Delpozo aesthetic without going so far as to clip its wings. To wit, even simple pragmatic touches like cuffs and collars, embellished to the hilt with couture-level beading, snapped off so that blouses could be more easily cleaned, and crop tops came kitted out with built-in boning and concealed hook-and-eye closures for ease of wear. Delpozo daywear continues to grow, with the burgeoning categories of knits and bags and footwear, which will delight Font’s fans who may not have black-tie or red carpet needs to be addressed anytime soon, and for whom his signature whimsical volumes are a category to be worked up to. His Technicolor intarsias and a trench in delicate poplin flower appliquéd lace both lingered in the mind after this reporter had left the showroom—pragmatic, but surely not earthbound.
