THE LATEST LOOKS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CATWALKS SHOULDER FLASH It’s the new sexy. From a glimpse to a full-on flaunting, shoulders are designers’ latest sweet spot BY Balenciaga jumpsuit £2,325 HARRODS MAGAZINE 31
FASHION When it comes to reflecting the state of our society, hemlines may hog the headlines but, historically, fashion designers’ handling of the shoulders has offered equally interesting insights. For example, after the Second World War, the feminine, rounded shoulders of Christian Dior’s New Look foreshadowed women’s return to domestic roles. Then, in the eighties, exaggerated shoulder pads signified their increasing power in the workplace. Whether it’s worth reading anything into designers’ shoulder-baring styles this season is debatable. In 2009, the popularity of Balmain’s bold shoulders was thought to signal our desire for protection in a time of fiscal uncertainty, so it could be that the sea of exposed collarbones on the SS15 catwalks reflected a renewed economic confidence. Or perhaps designers simply felt it would offer relief after a season of blanket wraps. Either way, the new cuts have a lot to recommend them. Easier to wear than last season’s crop tops and less obvious than low necklines, SS15’s exposed shoulders exert a subtler, more sophisticated sex appeal. Consider Christopher Kane’s uncharacteristically demure collection: the designer took a claret-coloured dress from sombre to seductive by adding skilfully draped sashes of tulle that gave the illusion of slipping off Serbian model Mina Cvetkovic’s shoulders. There’s also a coy revealand-conceal quality to 3.1 Phillip Lim’s sculptural constructions, while a spearmint-coloured dress by Valentino has strategic cut-outs that expose just Ch sto he ne Christopher Kane dress £1,999 Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci dress £2,499 Givenchy Alessandra Rich dress £1,575 Aless nd ich 3.1 hilli i Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci dress £3,599 Givenchy Lanvin dress £2,325 L nvin V lentino 3.1 Phillip Lim dress £780 Valentino dress £1,385 ol nd ou et Matthew Williamson dress £1,350 tthe illi son Roland Mouret dress £1,350 lenci ches Balenciaga dress £3,850 Marchesa dress £13,500 a sliver of collarbone. The key to mastering the new necklines is minimalist styling: at Roland Mouret, an asymmetrical cocktail dress called for a simple clutch rather than a shoulder-obscuring statement bag, while a dress at Lanvin was suspended by delicate golden chains, negating the need for necklaces. Not all the designs exhibit so much restraint: there was a Dynasty-era exuberance to the necklines at rising star Alessandra Rich’s show, and a hyper-feminine seventies inflection to the crossover halters at Matthew Williamson and gypsy-style gowns at Marchesa. Alexander Wang’s Balenciaga collection was rooted in the present rather than the past: he riffed on high-performance cycling gear to bring a refreshing modernity to embellished halterneck jumpsuits and crossover dresses. At Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, exquisitely cut collarbone-revealing dresses had an erotic charge even though they exposed little. Incidentally, it’s interesting to note that, although they were first introduced in the 16th century, shoulderbaring designs still haven’t quite lost their shock factor. Only last year, a female reporter was banned from a Utah courtroom for wearing a sleeveless high-necked blouse. Conclusive proof, if it were needed, that in terms of impact, the new necklines stand head and shoulders above the rest. HMN Available from Designer Studio, Eveningwear, International Designer and Superbrands, First Floor Models backstage Jason Lloyd-Evans 32 HARRODS MAGAZINE
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