Last season Simmons explored the concept of 'the future as seen by the past', with the use of David Bowie being his main inspiration. I felt we had been introduced to a much more harsh, almost fetishistic version of the Dior Woman.
However, this season we still had that futurism yet it was mitigated by Simmons' historical aesthetics- the journey back to the archives which brought us a more innocent, (I hate to use this word) sexy yet sinister vision. Perhaps those 40s ('New Look') coats which clinched in at the waist to open up into a full-skirt briefly dabbled in the darker side with heavy metal chains.
We also saw quotations from previous collections: the scarf neck-line, the tulip skirts which embraced more of a classic 50s silouhette in contrast to the distinctively audacious spirit captured by Simmons last season and lastly, the deconstruction of the defining coat. By deconstruction I mean Simmons took the basic structure of the overcoat and added a flare from his imagination- the bell sleeves (which deemed popular this couture season, especially at Atelier Versace), the glimpse of a fur stole, as one would call it, that appeared through a sleeveless caban and those jacquard chain-mail nets which sat over an ethereal gown.
The opening look comprised of a white organza flowing gown of tissue-thin transparency setting this look of purity within a demure silouhette.
It was evident to me that Simmons was playing with perhaps the imbalance of lightness vs darkness, for example the design of the tulip skirts, which presented a rigid structure was downplayed by the pastel kaleidoscope which splashed its surface, to create perhaps a false vision of softness.
For me it was about the contrast between old and new. With this historical aesthetic that Simmons releases every season, he attracts a much more youthful audience, even aesthetic.
Picture courtesy of Style.com
