Glitter against gloom: Christopher Kane saved up his Resort collection photos to pitch directly into the holiday season. “We shot it while we were on a research trip in Tokyo. I thought it would be a nice surprise,” he says. “And I loved that cityscape.” Well, it feels right for now—graphic strips of crystal, slithery chain mail, lace trimmings, tailored black leather, and all.
The point about Kane is the way his design walks that nighttime tightrope between the sexy and the sophisticated on which every girl hopes to find her balance. For the past few seasons, he’s been talking frankly about the power of sexuality as an underlying force in fashion—mention of which has generally been shushed in the current climate of modest dressing. In Kane’s clothes, there’s opportunity to provoke—the short lengths he’s been doing since he started, bra tops, fetishistic buckled choker collars, and rouleau black leather bows. Clothes for having a good time, despite it all? That’s what his Shit Happens slogan seems to say.
