February 20, 2023 |
Inspired by his mum, aunties and the working class heroines of his youth – housewives, cleaners, barmaids – Christopher Kane sent out contradictions of high glamour and its humble opposite. The sexiest dress in the collection, a slinky jersey number slit to the hip, came covered with AI prints of pig heads or baby chickens. The designer pitches himself as a provocateur creating, “clothes that challenge sartorial tastes and standards”. It’s what makes him so watchable. Who else would use brown sequins for divine little tutu-like cocktail dresses? Only Kane would treat the most mundane of colours to such a good spangling.
Another Kane-ism? Front bustles bursting from stiff shiny skirts or sexy little black dresses. The face-framing panels integrated into his party dresses were, he said, inspired by chopping boards. The cuts were sophisticated, the humour was bawdy. Cool and confounding, it was Kane at his best.
Photography courtesy of Christopher Kane.
