Alice Temperley wants the references that go into her collections to be as explicit and accessible as their charm. This season, for instance, you didn’t need to skim the press release accompanying the new Temperley London collection to comprehend that the jumping-off point was the dream catcher, those yarn-strung hoops made by certain Native American tribes and much prized by hippies old and new. A quick glance at the many multicolored Temperley prints and embroideries expanding on the dream catcher theme told the tale, and then some. Per usual, the patterns were playful and pretty—hence the clothes’ ample charm—but Temperley’s way of addressing her references is so literal it borders on kitsch.
It wasn’t a big leap from dream catchers to a boho look; hence this outing’s numerous iterations of peasant-ish frocks and skirts. All very well wrought, and Temperley’s design savvy revealed itself in the ways she linked the more casual pieces to her bread-and-butter eveningwear. Some women might have the lifestyle for a lightweight cotton voile dress in a dream catcher print so realistic it was almost—but not quite—trompe l’oeil; others may be in need of a wispy gown engineered to accommodate circular dream catcher–patterned embroidery. To each her own.
Not everything here was dream-caught, as it were. Temperley cut the sweetness with some sharply tailored velvet pieces—long
topcoats and, particularly good, a deep-V jumpsuit with a flared leg. There were also stripy intarsia knits with a lot of punch and soft-spoken gowns and day dresses of pastel sequins or lace. And Temperley wisely diffused her dream catcher fetish into other folksy motifs, creating delicate embroideries of flora and fauna that got across the collection’s bohemian vibe in a more muted voice.
