Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Top African Designer - Duro Olowu's Spring Collections



Duro Olowu Collections - Spring 2015

As far as Duro Olowu is concerned, consistency is to be regarded as a virtue. As he commented at an appointment at his atelier today, his hope is that the women who buy from him stay loyal, and mix and match pieces among collections. And he honors that loyalty by maintaining a certain kind of proportion, a certain kind of attitude, a certain kind of silhouette. The way Olowu keeps this consistency from becoming boring is by being inclusive—he's a scavenger of references, and invites myriad of them into his signature confidently feminine, mixed-print aesthetic.

This season those references included the cover art for the album The Pointer Sisters, Ozu's film Drunken Angel and Japanese film noir in general, 1940s pinups, and the Senegalese island of Saint-Louis, where the collection's appliquéd starched brocade was made and which supplied Olowu with his Spring '15 palette. The '40s, meanwhile, gave a subtle new slant to Olowu's shapes—a soft peplum on a bias-cut dress, a strong shoulder to a jacket, an A-line skirt in Linton tweed—while Japan provided inspiration for vivid floral prints and pieces such as kimono-sleeve lightweight robe coats. Firm fans of Olowu will likely gravitate to this collection's graphic print of hand-drawn circles, which was emphasized throughout; new ones will come for drop-dead gorgeous, easily accessible looks like the emerald green bias-cut gown, with its waterfall of ruffles down the back. And once they're hooked, they'll return.

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