Warholian Flowers by Diane von Furstenberg

Tweet

New York Fashion Week - Diane von Furstenberg Spring/Summer 2012 

Diane von Furstenberg explains that she wants her show to be all about "beginning, hope". So, she and her creative director, Yvan Mispelaere, have looked to Africa - "the beginning of the world and the center of the world", Diane explains. For her however, this is not a colonial Africa of safaris and sahariennes, but rather the authentic Africa where sartorial innovation and imagination is unbridled. Diane loved the Congolese movie Viva Riva, whilst Yvan was inspired by the audacity of the print and textile mixes the Senegalese sitters wear of the iconic portraits by Seidou Keita and the improvised outfits assembled by the subjects in Jackie Nickerson's photographs.

The in-house team and textile designers have produced vivid and refreshing prints in a mix of dusty and bright pastels, ignited with china blue and grass greens and aubergines and purples, that will be shown combined together in distant emulation of those African dandy mixes. These elements have in turn been layered with classical menswear touches and the workwear that Irving Penn documented in his legendary 1950s "Small Trades" portrait series, together with "a touch of  jolie madame - so, a man's life in a woman's body with little Carven," laughs Diane, referencing the midcentury Parisienne couturier famed for her dainty and feminine clothes.

Ladylike early sixties fashions (there was even a chic one-shouldered coral crepe evening toga, perhaps a discreet homage to Valentino, who had come to the show to applaud his friend Diane and the House of Valentino alum Yvan), Diane filtered all these elements into proposition for the kind of seductive modern wardrobe that she does best. A crisp white cotton shirt worn over a full pleated eyelet skirt, fastened at the waist with ties like a Japanese obi for instance , or a fluid crepe jacket over a cowl-neck top and liquid, cropped pants (in delectable color combinations - mint over putty and cocoa, for instance, accessorised with a virdian suede clutch.) Those early  sixties volumes wee reworked with a modern edge - very lean chemise dressses hobbled at the calf or boule jackets and coats swinging extra wide, and workwear elements like salopettes were transformed via feminine fabrications such as fjord-green eyelet lace or tango orange crepe. Diane's prints ran the gamut from fragile Japanese Kimono-inspired designs or vivid Warholian flowers, and they stole the show.

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories

Photo Credit/Source: © VOGUE

Photography by © Marcio Madeira/firstView

SEE ALSO ...

'DvF - Diane von Furstenberg Fall/Winter 2011/12'

Share