A style of her Owen

I truly get the distinct impression that every time I see Alexandra Owen’s collections, that I am seeing something rather special. It seems to me that I don’t think we quite get the strength of what she is really doing – yet…

Alexandra Owen Spring Summer 2010/2011
Showing at Mollies boutique hotel

Speechless.

Still speechless

I truly get the distinct impression that every time I see Alexandra Owen’s collections, that I am seeing something rather special.

It seems to me that I don’t think we quite get the strength of what she is really doing – yet. I had the pleasure of talking with Angela Lassig, (who wrote the wonderful book New Zealand Fashion Design), at the showing today, and it was interesting talking about all the various designers over the last 30 years, and the way they have shaped our fashion industry.

I can only imagine, that we are watching some ‘shaping’ of the industry, every time Alexandra Owen sends another collection down the runway.

Aside from all the beautifully draped and boned and tailored clothing we saw today, the one thing we DIDN’T see was black. Well we did, but it was simply an accent colour, and I think there were maybe 5 pieces in total. The rest of the pieces were in bronze, gold, white, and navy with splashes of soft pink and blue. There was only one pattern. Yes just one, and that was in the lining of a superb pale blue jacket. Otherwise, it was all simple block colour, as it always appears to be with Alexandra.

I will at this point digress, and harp on about the tailoring. And by tailoring I mean the old-fashioned, labour-intensive type. Beautiful French seams (no overlocking, Alexandra was quick to point out), boning, draping that is done on the mannequin, collars made like their masculine equivalents with the same amount of detail, doming rather than buttoning on jackets and talk of made-to-measure for certain garments in the range. All music to my ears.

And the clothes themselves… well, still fairly speechless at this point.

Sigh. Just beautiful. Not different for the sake of it, but just beautifully conceived, coloured and crafted. The first dress out for the day made some in the audience (the who’s who of Auckland’s fashion media – slightly unsure how I made the cut!) audibly sigh. An evening dress in sand-washed silk, with a 50’s feel. Nipped in at the waist, the ‘Love’ dress (and we did ALL love it) had eight metres of fabric in the skirt that moved amazingly when the model walked. Cleverly draped at the front, it had the most lovely asymmetric detail at the back of the neck. The most remarkable thing about the dress though, was the colour. It was the most amazing shade of bronze. Bronze isn’t a colour one would describe as warm – but this shade was. It somehow managed to be sunny, though I guess that should read summer-y…

What followed were simple, straight jackets in coated linens with straight leg pants to match, the most glorious black skirt called ‘the sparrow skirt’ – cleverly draped. The ‘ripple’ dress with a swathe of draped silk at the front. As with almost all the styles, it came in a short, and a long version, making sure there is a style to suit all body shapes and ages, which I think is one of the things that continues to impress me about this label. Clothes for ALL women. All shapes, sizes and ages. Surely this is feminism at its most practical?! The showing ended with the elaborately simple ‘husk dress’ which is a strapless, boned evening dress which will be made-to-measure. It was a perfect way to end the day.

My picks for the day were the ‘harvest shirt’, which come in navy, white, pink and pale blue, and in two lengths. It had an intricate buttoning arrangement that gave it several different looks.

I would sell one of children if it meant I could get my hands on the perfectly sculpted black leather ‘locust jacket’ made from lambskin. I just need to decide which one of my children I can live without…

The ink blue silk ‘ottoman cocoon coat’ with its boning detail on the pocket (you have to see this to understand how clever it is) has to be the most perfect evening coat I have ever seen.

In a way this goes to the heart of her design – you need to really get a close look to see how intricate, and tailored each of these pieces really is. However beautiful the pictures of these pieces are, they are nothing to how good they are in real, living, moving colour.

By Anya Brighouse 27 May 2010.