Jenny Packham took a deep dive this season, and took a closer look at the ocean and its many colorful inhabitants.
The designer said she was inspired by the work of Ocean Rising, an organization that works with people in the arts and other creative industries to find ways of appreciating, and protecting, the ocean.
The designer said she wasn’t prepared for just how much the project would inspire her from a creative point of view.
“It’s taken us into a more organic world of beading. Our bead work is less linear now,” said Packham, who worked iridescent beads and recycled sequins into curling, abstract wave patterns around the collar of a black dress; bubbles on the front of a shimmery gold style, and starfish and seahorses on a white cap sleeve dress.
Other dresses were meant to mimic the surface of the sea at different times of the day, with shimmery dresses in bright blue, emerald green and gray. And because Packham has a sense of humor, she was also inspired by old-fashioned deck chairs, whipping up a pink-and-white candy stripe chiffon dress with bows on the shoulders.
Deck chairs, she said, are crucial to saving the oceans. “You have to sit somewhere to see the sea so that you can figure out ways to save it,” she said.
