Simon Holloway, Agnona’s creative director, was fascinated by the recent exhibition “Making Her Self Up” at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, which showcased Frida Kahlo’s private belongings, displayed for the first time outside Mexico, where they had been locked away for 50 years after her death. They revealed the formidable strength as well as the fragility of the artist’s identity; while her crutches, body casts, and prosthetic legs exposed her impaired physical condition, the bright red lipsticks and nail polishes, perfume bottles, and powder compacts spoke of her refusal to give up the seductive power of her femininity.
One black-and-white picture in the exhibition seemed to express a less theatrical side to Kahlo’s self-possessed, forceful personality: Sitting in the sun, simply dressed in a masculine tunic and boot-cut pants apparently made of denim, she wears no makeup and her dark hair is loose. “I love that picture,” Holloway said. Kahlo’s relaxed poise, coupled with the cosmetic color palette of her belongings, was a loose inspiration for the Agnona Pre-Fall collection, the lookbook of which was photographed on model Mariacarla Boscono. “She reminded me of a modern Frida Kahlo,” said Holloway. The fact that her hair, which was recently dyed a bright shade of strawberry blonde, matched the collection’s chromatic range was a kind of serendipity.
Shades of plum, rosewood, amber rose, and terra-cotta had a gentle sophistication; combined with darker tones of charcoal and smoky quartz, they were well calibrated to enhance the luxurious feel of high-end fabrications, like double cashmeres, zibeline flannels and wools, and gauze mohairs. A soft purity of cut and a modern, balanced take on volumes and proportions, together with an attitude of refined ease, is what Holloway has been up to at Agnona. Here, double cashmere wrap coats were layered over loose cowl-neck sweaters and wide-leg pants or elongated napa V-necks. Tailoring leaned masculine on herringbone coats and double-breasted peacoats, and on fluid pantsuits in extra-fine light wool. Knitwear was also emphasized, as in a ribbed-knit cashmere cape sumptuously trimmed in astrakhan. The collection offered plenty of desirable outerwear, often paired with relaxed track pants that were made in a luxurious camel-hair velour jersey.
