Christian Siriano is approaching his 15-year anniversary; he plans to have a big show in celebration this September, so for the resort season, he kept the lineup a little tighter.
Currently three of Siriano’s works are on display at Kensington Palace’s “Crown to Couture” show of royal and red carpet looks in London. A trip to see the exhibit, as well as a consecutive trip to Ireland, formed the basis for his latest collection.
“The whole collection comes from there with its idea of regality, but still lady; beautiful and elegant, with a little bit of Audrey Hepburn and vintage,” he said. “British lady, but fabulous.”
The result included a selection of jewel toned (dark blue, emerald), elegant, body hugging yet modest gowns — a nice nod to Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales; Irish countryside floral (tailoring and fitted frocks) and abstract striped motifs (easy crepe layers), and oversize pearlescent buttons on ladylike, yet ultra playful, little black looks.
“Our suits are doing really, really well,” Siriano said, adding his sleeveless tuxedo gown was designed to riff on the almost militant, British structure, with his signature romanticism a la its elongated, frothy train. Although a majority of the collection was rendered in black and white, its voluminous shapes, feathered accents and flirty, feminine elan upheld Siriano’s signature playful glamour.
“We’re launching at the same time my new furniture collection, so there are a lot of pieces that show how the furniture can come to life,” he added, pointing out two black-and-white ensembles: an hourglass blazer with oversize evening pant and elegant gown with poufed, off-the-shoulder sleeves. Both looks, as well as his new couch (as seen in the look book), riffed on the Dorchester Hotel’s damask curtains.
With 15 years under his belt, Siriano knows his customer is coming to him, time and time again, for his fabulous event and event dressing. So the idea of giving customers “more mileage out of the expensive purchases,” became another strongpoint of resort.
“In event dressing, this cape was paired with a modern skirt, but it could also go over a Little Black Dress,” he said of a pale green statement cape. “Same with this – it’s an interchangeable cocktail dress,” he said of a handful of strong, sculptural minis (and a statement semi-sheer corset number) with button-off black chiffon underskirts. The idea further extended into mix and match little knit tops with bouncy jacquard and frothy tulle ball skirts.
“It’s not in a gimmicky way, but it’s in the practicality of your clothes in eveningwear, which should be able to do more than one wear. I hate that people say, ‘Oh, you spent six grand on a dress, but like you’re never going to wear it again.’ I don’t like that, I want you to be able to have a life of these clothes, so hopefully people will try that more and more. I think it’s a cool way to approach it.”
