Backstage, Peter Dundas called his debut collection and the show with which he’s launching it “a labor of love.” To prove his point, he introduced his Norwegian nieces Iris and Noor, who were hard at work helping the models into their first looks. Noor was quick to point out her favorite outfit: a bright pink fox robe coat, jeans in the same shade of shocking, and silk-satin lace-up boots embroidered with flowers. Launching a brand in today’s market is no small undertaking, not least of all because the competition is backed by conglomerates that spend millions not just making collections but also promoting them. If Dundas has an advantage over his better-funded designer peers, it’s that he has always known how to make clothes that turn on hot young things. Consider Beyoncé, who gave Dundas his coming-out when she wore a dress of his design at the Grammys earlier this year, or Emily Ratajkowski, for whom he designed the black lace catsuit and train she donned at the Cannes Film Festival. Kim Kardashian West is also a fan.
All of them will find pieces to love in Dundas’s new collection. It felt very much like a grab bag of extroverted items, ranging from sequined concert tees (the lion that appears on one of them is a replica of the designer’s arm tattoo) and sequined catsuits to beaded beach caftans and a couple of KKW-approved naked dresses. He also threw in a Le Smoking embellished with electric blue crystals. Dundas is known for his red carpet frocks, but he’s also a mean tailor. In an interview several days before the show, the designer called the lineup “a test,” to see what “his girls” respond to. The Resort-timed collection will be sold exclusively at Moda Operandi, and the results, presumably, will give his next runway show (date TBD) a more cohesive point of view. He could go in a rock ’n’ roll direction, like those sequined T-shirt dresses, or maybe it’ll be more boho, à la the breezy beaded caftans. Either way, it will follow the Dundas golden rule: “I like to make women feel seductive,” he said.
