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| Carolina Herrera Spring 2015 tulip spectrum print silk gazaar gown (All photos: Style.com |
Fresh off her Artistry in Fashion Award, Carolina Herrera proved herself more than worthy of the honor bestowed upon her by FIT’s Couture Council on Wednesday September 5th. Her spring 2015 collection, shown to a packed house on Monday morning at the Tent at Lincoln Center, was beautifully conceived, perfectly executed, and quite artistic in its celebration of the flower (flower prints and flower hues).
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| Pixelated rose print gazaar top and textured viscose long skirt |
Her program notes explained that the inspiration for the season was “the color code of the flower, a simple boom”. The color palette emphasized vibrant pinks, iris blues, purples, gray tones, and soft yellows. As for the prints, let’s face it, not all flower prints are ‘garden variety’, and Carolina’s magnolias, parrot tulips, roses, lilies, were not dainty and delicate, but fierce, overblown, graphic, and made larger than life thanks to modern technology. They were digitized and pixelated, and were translated onto a combination of techno crepe and techno pique fabrics. Considering that the designer, (like myself and many others of a certain generation), did not grow up tech savvy in the computer world, it makes her efforts all the more impressive.
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| Parrot tulip embroidered silk faille dress |
The venue itself was literally transformed into a magical white space: all the seats were covered in white cotton, and interspersed throughout, were a group of vertiginous green cone shaped sculptures. All those designers and publicists who don’t believe they can transform Lincoln Center into something special, please take note. It is possible. I particularly loved the way Carolina did not play favorites, and showed a variety of shapes, lengths, silhouettes, and proportions (as with her footwear, which ranged from ‘flatform’ sandals and demure kitten heels, to elegant high high heels). There were many sculptural details and some of the most beautiful backs seen around.
Among the 45 pieces, there were several one could consider informal and geared for more relaxed hours, but let’s face it, this is a collection which is all about special occasions: whether small chic cocktail parties or full blown galas. In fact, it was as if the designer specifically had in mind, all those fabulous parties centered around botanical themes (it seems there are more and more of them, especially in the spring and summer), and no doubt we will be seeing many of these spectacular creations on prominent social fixtures in the months ahead.
