I must admit I had wondered how the move to Perth might have affected Kirscha Whitcher – not in a fashion sense, more in a ‘big upheaval in life that is moving your family to another country’ sense. I’ve seen designers go through all manner of personal change and while for some you’d never know, others – well, you’ve heard of break up albums, right? I guess it’s much the same thing, the change is evident in the creativity.
Whatever is going on behind the scenes at Salasai it appears to be working as the designer showed us a tight, carefully edited collection that was both incredibly desirable and infinitely wearable.
The “heartlands’ show (based on the American mid-west), had a ‘down on the farm feel’ with models having sheaves of wheat tucked into their hair or pockets. It opened with a boxy cut double breasted tobacco coloured suit with a ¾ sleeve and cropped pant. This gave way to what was a signature print of zig-zagging chevrons of blue, black and brown. The print was worked into silk blouses and dresses, cotton trou worn by men and women, boxy tees and jackets.
Menswear featured dropped crotch easy trou, both ankle grazing and longer length pants accompanied with big knits, plaid shirts and boxy tees in tones of brown, black and chalk. Jackets for men included black elbow patches Splashes of lemon punctuated the more muted tones; in a beautifully cut dress with overlapping cap sleeves, pretty blouses, suiting and skirts. Pretty touches also abounded with bowties sitting at the necklines of some tops, or over the shoulders of others. These were cream and black or again in the chevron print.
Deep russet figured strongly – I particularly loved the leather pants with knee detail and the leather biker jacket with its contrasting black sleeves (oh, and the Salasai bag – wonder if they are really going to make these?). Russet silk dresses and oversized knits also featured.
Although this wasn’t the largest collection shown this week, it was certainly one of the favourites, with twitter feeds going mad during and directly after. It could simply be summed up by what the Editor next to me said directly afterwards: “I REALLY liked it”. I concur.
CLICK HERE to view Salasai NZFW12 – Runway
– Jackie O’Fee
www.signaturestyle.co.nz
Images: Giana Patel
