The girls you see in these pictures are Daisy Eltenton (the one who looks like a young Sissy Spacek) and Sofia Moser Leitão, friends who’ve known each other since girlhood. The other key facts about them are that they’re two of the “real” girls who walked in Marques ‘ Almeida’s terrific Spring show, and they’re Portuguese. So are Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida. That’s the preamble to saying that, for the first time, the designers are showing something that links back to their roots—flounced taffeta skirts and dresses and ruffled blouses that channel a faint echo of folkloric fiesta dressing. But the peepholes in the flounces, showing flashes of leg? That’s a new invention, part of the hip stream of ideas that’s prolifically flowing from Marques ‘ Almeida’s studio in London these days.
Their creative surge takes in exaggeration, contradiction, practicality, and variety. There are gingham tablecloth checks; so-bad-they’re-cool black and red vinyl jackets and studded kick-flares; overblown, voluminous dresses; and plain super-wide calico pants. There’s a down-to-earthness about it all, peppered with delightfully spontaneous-looking flourishes. Who else has ever thought to fasten a fur biker jacket with two red net bows?
