Peter Dundas is certainly not a minimalist: You won’t find demure black dresses or bourgeois checkered blazers worn with pussy-bow blouses and pleated mid-calf skirts in his repertoire. He likes a sexy, bold look—exuberant and glamorous as it can be. He also likes a good party and actually shares the fun-loving, jet-setting life his posse of young aficionados favors. Like them, he’s constantly on the move. During a recent relocation, he found an old Guy Bourdin book, which he unsurprisingly found inspiring. No one was able to glamorize ’80s louche atmospheres like the French photographer. His stylish images were coated with a veneer of provocative polish and soaked in saturated, alluring colors.
Bourdin’s bold, electric palette of chlorophyll green, fuchsia, cobalt blue, and blackberry energized the usually languid ’70s-inspired Dundas silhouettes, which were kept more streamlined and less flouncy than usual. “I come from a school where a well-cut jacket is the wardrobe’s foundation,” explained Dundas. Actually, tailoring was one of the collection’s best parts, with strong-shouldered blazers elongating into dresses or worn over matching shorts in abbreviated and boxy versions; a double-breasted jacket and front-pleated cropped pants were cut from gold-laminated, python-printed faux leather and paired with a sexy eco-leather bustier: “There’s mindfulness in all the madness,” joked the designer, referring to the attention he’s paying to the use of more sustainable fabrics.
The play on ’80s-inspired, short, draped, and boldly body-con silhouettes contrasted nicely with the sensuous, tropical bohemian feel that is the designer’s trademark. A feast of opulent golden floral jacquards and fil coupés graced off-the-shoulder, tiered, billowy long dresses, cinched at the waist with laced leather corset belts and open in the front to reveal sexy micro-shorts; mini-dresses with ruffles galore in gold-flecked motifs had an artistic vibe.
Independent designers have to carve out a niche for themselves, establishing a clear-cut, unique aesthetic to make them stand out in the crowded fashion marketplace. Dundas’s choice to go solo has so far proved successful: His style appeals to women who are not afraid to powerfully flaunt their seductive side—and the body that goes with it. There are plenty out there, as Dundas’s club definitely seems to have no shortage of membership requests.
