Zambesi Spring Summer 2011/2012
Zambesi spring/summer brings together disparate ideals and gives them unity in a collection that re-interprets uniform detailing with the freedom and simplicity of fluid fabrics and seraphic colours.
Fabrics speak boldly. Details are kept clean and subtle and although many pieces have oversized proportions they are rendered fluid by fabric choices including acetate satins and cotton lawn.
In this way too, suiting is softened for the season. Jackets are both structured and relaxed and proportions are exaggerated in key pieces like the wide-legged pants that appear in both the men’s and women’s collections.
Lingerie shapes are uncomplicated in luxe fabrics, and key archival pieces work as foils for lightweight layering.
Innocent shades of oyster, white, cream and a strident nude hue underpin the colour palette contrasting with brilliant crimson and orange, and fluorescent accessories.
View the ZAMBESI MENS Spring/Summer 2012 Collection
View the ZAMBESI WOMENS Spring/Summer 2012 Collection
Zambesi Woman
Enduring and effortless, this collection is built on pieces that continue to inspire. A diaphanous wrap, a satin acetate unfinished prom dress, sequinned singlets and sweatshirting, stiffened lace and sparkling mini-crinis. They all have one thing in common: a fragility and honesty of fabric.
This is a collection bound by adherence to an underplayed aesthetic that allows the luxury of the cloth – from hand-knotted embroidery to washed canvas – to speak.
The seventies exert a subtle influence, from mirror-ball sequins to a classic masculine jacket reinterpreted for womenswear.
Key shapes include boldly proportioned overalls, drawstring and billow-back detailing on dresses, a soft take on a vintage jacket, jodhpur patch-detailed pants, bias lingerie skirts, and distorted cotton knits.
Zambesi Man
The practicality of utility – details like the epaulet, the pockets on a flight jacket, the proportions of an army parka – are redefined.
A patch-shouldered army jersey in cotton fisherman’s knit has a fresh sense of luxury. A prosaic trench coat is reworked with hidden utilitarian details and softened with a billow back.
Suiting for summer is fundamental to the range in black, nude and washed canvas. A new Oxford trouser blows out proportions, teamed with a cropped, minimal two-button jacket. The three-button jacket comes with patch pocket detailing and the classic slim trouser is cuffed and flat-fronted.
Athletic silhouettes are present in stretch cotton pants and a baseball-jodhpur pant, while a standard take on the cargo pant offers a dramatic taper at the calf. Short-sleeved shirts in strong colour combinations are reversible.
Accessories
The vintage carpet bag shape is revisited in robust black leather. Slim belts come in fluorescent shades of turquoise, orange and yellow. Cotton fisherman’s rib beanies, delicately sequinned ties and frilled nylon dinner-front bibs. Hand-shaped baseball caps and visor peaks are molded in sisal grass.