It must be a daunting task to design a collection that marks the 20th anniversary of a brand. But there was no evidence of toil in the Fall 2020 show Anne Barge creative director Shawne Jacobs presented. In fact, she took forward strides with this season, and, added bonus, there was a welcome sense of ease to many looks—some of which were even styled with white ballet flats. Tradition is valued at Anne Barge, but so is newness, and Jacobs delivered it with unexpected asymmetries and splashy, maillot-inspired halters.
Weddings seem to be getting ever more extended and elaborate, and brides are taking opportunities to change their looks frequently. This explains the pair of pearl-strung jumpsuits and a bedazzled bell-skirted mini made for dancing ’til dawn. Brides flock to Anne Barge for traditional, ladylike wedding dresses, and Jacobs looked to the archive for details to bring forward to a new decade. Most elegant was a gown called “Manhattan”: Slim as a skyscraper, it had long sleeves and a bare back. More flashy, but not to a Kira Kira level, were a couple of frocks with sequined, embroidered lace that glittered like diamonds.
The show closed with two light-as-air dresses, one a poufed meringue in ivory matelasse, the other as fragile as Queen Anne’s lace, frosted with metallic embroidery.
