For his fall collection titled “Rue de Rome” after the Parisian street reputed for its musical instrument-makers, Arturo Obegero said he imagined an orchestra conducted by Serge Lutens, the French perfumer and creative polymath whose photography he’d discovered in the 1996 “L’Esprit Serge Lutens” coffee-table book.
He felt there was a kinship between these surreal visuals that he described as expressing “something so sexual, so perverted but [at the same time] super classic, elegant and extremely refined” and the dark romanticism he imparts with his own work.
Presented in the projection room of cultural center 3537 with a live string quartet, Obegero’s silhouettes stayed the course of dramatic tailoring that he has been exploring, with high-waisted trousers — for all genders — left partially unbuttoned; a denim bustier that flowed into a tailcoat, and a top made of a cloud of organza and lace swirled around the body.
Necklines took vertiginous plunges, baring chests that were strategically adorned with lace applications, nodding to Lutens’ aesthetics and Obegero’s sensual leanings.
Even so, this was no costume wardrobe, even if you could imagine a gender-fluid performer going for Obegero’s work on and off the stage. Once they had exited the candlelit room, these exacting silhouettes were perhaps not for wallflowers but distilled into an existing wardrobe, their precise tailoring felt like it addressed a coming desire to dress up to face the day.
