What do you call someone who is sexual, powerful and intelligent?
“If it’s a man, he’d be ‘normal’ or admired. But if it’s a woman, she’s a femme fatale when she’s actually a go-getter,” said designer Arturo Obegero.
But upon closer inspection of this villainous female trope, particularly strong in the ’40s and ‘50s film noir he loves, he found them to be empowered, confident and determined enough to give “that last push to get what you want.”
Drama helped put Obegero on the map but three years in, the main exercise is to establish staples for a brand that’s all about “100 percent comfortable in your skin.”
That’s not a byword for bland or basic in a universe flavored with dance, bullfighting and for this season, muses like Louise Brooks, Rudolph Valentino and Helmut Newton’s photographs.
The designer reworked cropped jackets and matador trousers, in patchworks of stripes or even faux fur. Jeans came with a discrete trompe-l’oeil of suspenders while a five-in-one trench could be separated into a jacket, wrap skirt and vest.
Knitwear, introduced this season, came in the shape of tuxedo trousers and a shawl-collar blazer. Looking relaxed yet polished, these were the kind of clothes that a go-getter could confidently turn into a go-to option.
