St. John designer Zoe Turner continued her revamp of the storied SoCal brand, presenting her fall collection at the SoHo pop-up store.
Building on her multigenerational approach, the British designer used inspiration from family dynasties (and indeed, TV’s iconic ’80s show “Dynasty”) to bring a new decadence to the house tweeds, adding power shoulders, stirrup pants (they are everywhere this season), micro minis, bare midriffs and a good deal of pink.
Cleverly, Turner showed commercial versions of several pieces alongside the more celebrity-targeted, directional ones, to satisfy old and new St. John fans alike.
The look: Lucille Bluth of “Arrested Development” fame meets Elle Woods.
Key looks: A sharp shoulder, multicolored tweed jacket over black stirrup pants with tweed side-stripe; a Barbie pink tweed bomber jacket and side slit miniskirt; a “strawberry mousse” tuxedo minidress; a pink nylon-viscose striped catsuit with its more commercial minidress cousin, and a leopard cap sleeve bow midriff top and fluted floor length skirt alongside a more covered up leopard ballgown.
The takeaway: After four seasons, Turner seems to be getting into the groove of serving St. John customers old and new, and acclimating to her new Southern California surroundings. It was fun to see her turn a bit of an irreverent eye on monied Orange County style — which is at times conservative, and at times totally kitted-out.
