As usual, lace was king on the Karla Spetic runway. The opening look, a quasi-ballgown with a black lace long sleeve bodice, and a skirt with a bit of volume at the hips, was followed by a model in black lace pants with a black oversized jacket with functional lace-up (get it?) details on the sleeves. Backstage after the show, the designer explained the main inspiration for the season was “Japanese cult cinema,” which was most evident in the tailoring itself. “I really wanted the tailoring to be unrestricted, a little but undone,” she added. “You can take the sleeves off, you can take the collars off, and really play around with it. I wanted to bring a sense of movement—like a samurai.”
The sheer lace bodysuits and dresses that are her signature also inspired cheeky lingerie prints that looked like they’d been through a photocopier. “I wanted a sense of comfort and I think lingerie can be so restrictive for us women, so rather than wearing it I thought, ‘I’m going to put them on top.’” The lingerie prints and their floral companions, also treated with a similar high-contrast effect, were the highlights of the collection—as seen on a black and white polka dot blouse paired with a skirt printed with a reverse photo of a garter belt and stockings (so it shows white on black); a white jacket with an all-over tiny black floral print; and a short-sleeve white and black lace dress worn underneath a mid-length skirt with a reverse photo of just the garter belt.
A short sleeve space-dyed knit top worn with matching pants and accessorized with a knitted “garter belt” was intriguing, but it turned out to be the only knit look in the collection. It would’ve been great to see Spetic explore knitwear in exchange for one or two of the many lace catsuits that walked the runway. Elsewhere, her take on a white suit, which came towards the end of the show and consisted of an oversized jacket with lace-up sleeves, narrow trousers, and a lace skirt layered over the trousers, was a more grown-up version of her vision.
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