Muse Boards

Christopher Kane F/W 2011

Art / Architecture / Design / Fashion

There was a familiar geometry embedded into the first crochet looks that Christopher Kane sent down the runway for his Fall/Winter 2011 collection. That cozy-gone-high-fashion approach was just the beginning of shapes and textures that would soon melt into an innovative approach to what clothes can be made of. The looks in this collection were continuously adding elements of art, craft, and beauty.

Posted June 29th, 2020 By Colby Mugrabi

These crochet numbers are at first paired with thick leather jackets, tops, and skirts. Leather is patterned as if to speak to the rectangular crochet techniques, immediately hinting at the idea of reinventing familiar or perhaps even dated ways of making clothes. Kane’s use of these rectangles draws the eye inward towards the center of the garment in an almost spiraling effect. Perhaps it is then that we fall into the hypnosis of his creativity and the new ideas that continuously appear throughout the show.

One of the most notable elements Kane brought to this collection was the fluid-filled plastic embellishments. While at first they subtly graced pockets or appeared on handbags, the material soon became as necessary to the looks as the crochet and leather. Cut in unpredictably wavey ways, the plastics seemed to bring an almost trippy element akin to lava lamps or stained glass. These colorful embellishments are cut to appear to melt along the garments, and yet they take on structural roles such as straps or necklines on Kane’s dresses. These combinations of fabrics carried a certain weight to them. But later, in yet another turn of events, Kane offsets these heavy fabrics alongside light sheers.

With this, Christopher Kane continues to make things a bit weirder still. To these sheer fabrics then come big luminescent sequins. And where crafty became trippy, trippy then became scaly. And still, all of these elements - gooey or shiny as they may be - are designed in quite sophisticated silhouettes. As the looks on this runway constantly evolved into something imaginative, Kane manages not to compromise in elegance. All while daring to let creativity take the lead, Christopher Kane’s Fall/Winter 2011 collection brings us both fun and sophisticated in innovative new ways.