un moment avec Lee
Paris, France
There was no teasing music or slow build up to the dramatic pieces typically saved for the finale in Steffie Christiaens’ spring/summer 2012 show. Immediately she dove into the depths of her conceptual nature and sent out a show-stopping mini dress in bright white, made up of rows upon rows of stiff fringe that was clipped away almost like icicles, or as if made of particles that were being tugged towards some magnetic force in the floor. As it turns out, magnetic attractions were the basis of the collection this season
In sculptural shapes that were very much oriented towards a futuristic aesthetic of a space age both shiny and planetary, Christiaens pushed the envelope of traditional silhouettes and the temperaments of fabric. Sheer yet textured fabrics were manipulated, doubled, and set in curved forms that looped around the torso, like a hoop, or the rings of a planet. A vest and a dress had dramatic loops of horsehair covered in feathery fibers around the neck and out wide around the arms. The final dress had a hoop skirt hem that inverted back on itself and was decorated with curved pieces of steel radiating around the hem. Several pieces of swimwear wrapped around with a system of straps in the back, which held the bands across the front in place in a kind of trompe l’oeil suspension.
In a more minimalistic interpretation of the shapes, a series of steel collars hung from the models necks and seemed almost integrated in the design of the garment underneath. And there were several dresses that translated the ideas of the looping motion around the body in a more restrained way, with a lot of open backs and a beautiful one shoulder dress that crept up to hug the neck on the one side, and sliding gracefully across under the arm on the other. The color story was a little jarring, with bright yellow and blue and the silver and grey that flowed, almost but not quite.
Christiaens is one for developing a strong concept and taking it to the extreme. It’s the kind of creativity that you don’t often see in a young designer who might more likely play it safe and over commercialize. So her ambitious treatments and application of materials deserve to be recognized. In the end she is at an advantage having defined her distinctive point of view, and has a growing audience to watch her refine it.
- Lee Anderson, Parisian Correspondent
Designer website: www.SteffieChristiaens.com
What we’ve said: Men’s 2012
