Today’s va-va-voom Redemption couture show opened with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and a pink minidress sculpted into a rose studded with crystal dewdrops. While this music has always been a common choice for the runway, the difference here was that it was being played on an electric guitar (kudos to Jacqueline Mannering). “I wanted to bridge the apparent gap—because for me there isn’t [a gap]—between classical Baroque music and heavy-metal music,” said founder Gabriele Moratti. Outfitted in a Guns N’ Roses concert tee and ripped jeans, he explained that he was envisioning a modern woman walking through a Venetian palazzo or a grand Parisian setting. Of course, given all the gowns, she should also be walking a red carpet.
In the couture tradition, the Italian label proposed a selection of tailoring and flou, much of it ’80s leaning. The former was shown mainly in lustrous giraffe spots that might register well onstage; the latter in sexy draping that might end up on a Bond girl. Extravagance is subjective, but Moratti’s comment, “I don’t have a more-is-more aesthetic,” was debatable in the presence of ruffled capes, Swarovski-encrusted bodices, outsize bows in iridescent satin, and swelling trains of silk chiffon—most looks a composite of several elements at once. Still, women who derive confidence from such glam-rock pageantry would probably say his vision speaks to them. “I’m transferring my passions to her, which are photography, music, art, cinema,” he said. “I try to think of a woman who is not one-dimensional.” Just like the asymmetric LBD that revealed ruffles sculpted into a giant rose from behind.
