The coming season’s key pieces are anything but ordinary
All rules of accessory-wearing should be swiftly disregarded – the designers of Spring/Summer 2019 proffered a selection of the most unconventional yet: from a fresh green cabbage to a Mickey Mouse lunchbox.
1. Cabbage clutches at Molly Goddard (above)
Though fresh produce may not prove the most long-lasting – or indeed practical – of accessories, Molly Goddard’s Spring/Summer 2019 collection made a convincing case nonetheless. Befitting the set, a gathering of tarpaulin-clad market stalls under which the audience sat, models carried a cabbage (or two) in lieu of handbags. “It’s that moment when you’re ready for the party, but your mum asks you to go to the market,” Goddard explained of the unexpected flourish post-show. A dictum to eat (or simply carry) your greens, if ever there was one.
2. Simone Rocha’s feather duster shoes
A majestic Spring/Summer 2019 collection from Simone Rocha saw the Irish designer look eastwards, riffing on the opulent dress of China’s Tang Dynasty and 16th-century concubines (albeit filtered through imitation paintings of the era found on contemporary Hong Kong’s streets). Though there was plenty to devour – not least light-as-air gowns, dusted with carnation embroidery, or Imperial red Cheongsam-style suiting – our eyes were naturally drawn to the shoes, pointed mules which sprouted sprays of marabou feathers from the soles, making for an entirely sophisticated alternative to the quotidian feather duster (simply wear, and shuffle).
3. Afternoon tea at Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood
Unexpected accessories abounded at Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2019 – skimpily clad bodybuilders whizzed around the Parisian warehouse showspace on scooters, models carried skateboards in their hands (one reference point was Jessica Fulford-Dobson’s photo series Skate Girls of Kabul) and Dree Hemingway walked the runway with an upside-down chair on her head. But by far the strangest – and consequently most appealing – was the newspaper-wrapped tea service, laid out on a tray and incorporated on to a corseted moiré silk gown like a peplum. Kronthaler noted finding inspiration for this particular look from April’s auction of items from the Ritz in Paris – it was entirely renovated earlier this year – making the subsequent appearance of a pink-clad bellhop entirely congruous.
4. Gucci’s Mickey Mouse handbags
Alessandro Michele is no stranger to an unconventional accessory – lest we forget the prosthetic severed heads and dragon “puppies” models clutched for Autumn/Winter 2018 – though his most recent collection, which also marked the house’s debut in Paris, saw the Italian designer on altogether more PG-rated territory. Namely: Mickey Mouse-shaped handbags – not so different to those you might have transported your lunch in as a child – carried by both his male and female charges in a fitting celebration of the cartoon’s 90th birthday in November. “I am reconnecting culture and popular culture,” Michele explained of the collection, which also included Dolly Parton prints and a seashell embroidered jockstrap.
5. An on-brand papoose at Marine Serre
The astonishing rise of Marine Serre has prompted an already devoted legion of followers who pledge their allegiance via the French designer’s now-ubiquitous crescent moon print (much spotted this season among fashion week’s street style regulars). Sensibly, for Spring/Summer 2019, in a collection she titled Hardcore Couture, she propelled this motif forward across ruffled gowns and skirts, gloves, cycle shorts, denim and even children’s clothes for the junior Serre fan. Necessary for full brand immersion though was the crescent moon papoose with matching babygro – enough to make us rapidly rethink our life plans.