A popular post from the archives…By Anya Brighouse
James Dobson, designer of Jimmy D, may well be the bastard son of Zambesi and NOM*D- in fact he even shares their last name, D. In this, Dobson’s first showing at Fashion Week, and like those labels, he has managed to walk the fine line between deconstruction and tailoring.
Jimmy D’s Winter 07 collection EVERYBODY LOVES NOBODY SOMETIMES is based on 90’s L.A. but has a decidedly 80’s feel to it. The show started with a fabulous soundtrack that really worked with the clothes rather than distracting from them. The first of several oversized tee-shirts, a strong theme throughout the collection, walked with attitude down the runway featuring the signature broken heart print, pictured above.
All the tee-shirt prints were fabulous but the white tee-shirt with men’s braces printed on it in a piano keyboard trompe d’leil effect was a particular standout. However my personal favourite print was the spiderweb print printed on silk, designed by Sydney-based artist and graphic designer Jeff Birch.
The largely monochromatic collection punctuated the black and white with a small amount of gunmetal blue and mossy brown silk georgettes. The detail was always in the way the fabrics fell; in the texture of the gathers and loose pleating. Dobson has a marvelous eye for softly draping silks, long and layered, coupled with a harder loosely-tailored but always versatile edge.
What I particularly like is his ability to create garments that can both accentuate the detail of a body but also hide the faults. This is a collection based on the excesses of youth but incredibly wearable for those older in years but edgy at heart.
Another re-occurring theme was holes cut in the leggings (suitable possibly only for models legs…) and in the shoulders and sleeves of garments. This just added to the overall texture as garments where layered over these that were both plain and printed, coloured and monochrome.
There were domed track pants obviously never to be worn on the gym floor as well as tee-shirts with a domed detail under the arm: a must-have from the collection. I liked the oversized batwing dress with three large holes cut in the top, to be worn in a variety of ways, continuing a theme from his last collection.
Other standout pieces included the long silk overdresses in white with the cobweb print, and the beautiful black silk shirt with gathered detail which perfectly illustrated his fabulous tailoring.
If the last season of Jimmy D’s was anything to go by, you may need to put your order in now for Winter 07. Or risk matching his tee-shirt print too literally, and having your very own broken heart…