It's been blogged to death, and we're all sitting on the edges of our seats for some topshop madness tomorrow (online only for non-UK and non-new york residents unfortunately), so now seems as good a time as any to document the best bits of this incredible collection.
Too often high street collaborations are cheap reproductions of the designers best ideas, or (whispers fashion savvy) designed by assistants and interns, and not the actual 'big name' themselves. The plus sides for a collaboration lie in the gaining of a garment carrying the name, and usually the hallmark of a great designer without the high fashion price tag. It's also a chance for the designer to diversify his audience and appeal to a wider range of tastes, sizes and interests. Just like how great chefs say they love working with airlines, hospitals and the armed forces - it's the challenge of providing high quality food despite the many restrictions (cost, size, possibility to reheat quickly). So too it is with collaborations, the best ones will maintain the designer's aesthetic whilst working around issues of cost, availability and design.
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Christopher Kane is that most rare of designers, one who matches an incredible imagination and creative wit with a real and awe-inspiring technical mastery of the cloth (or in his case, more often than not any of the following; leather, organza, calico, elastane and plastic). His designs can invoke a range of reactions spanning the spectrum of emotion - jealousy to lust, greed to despair (at the prices of his clothing).
If you remember this post, you'd recall that I'm a bit of a fan of the Kane. He's not just about dressing the it-girl or the hippest young thing, even though, naturally, those can be found in his witty party dresses of interlocking technicolour velvet and ingenious whiffs and puffs of organza that swirl into skirts. Unlike other designers he pushes himself, really pushes himself, and he gets it right, even when it's wrong. He builds on each collection, evolving motifs into full on influences, taking something simple, even banal, and transforming it into the sublime. There's nothing he can't do - tailoring, colour, embellishment, form-fitting, loose, darting, panels... And he does it with this infectious adoration of the female form, I have never seen his clothes make a woman look bad.
His collection for topshop is something really powerful for fashion right now. As a colletion it makes a powerful statement, it's all about the strong, 'fierce' (if you will), woman who is clever and cool, and she does it all in heels. It's not mindless either, the crocodile prints and ancient circular motifs are matched with delicate materials and sexy cuts to create a clear idea of this woman - tough and steely within a girly exterior. The stud patterns of embellishment are arranged almost like armour breast plates. Not to be crossed for love or money.
And not only is it a great capsule collaboration - the flirty little dresses, the embellished sportswear, the kick-ass heels and the crazy prints are Kane through and through - but Kane is fashion's wunderkind, and his rising star seems unlikely to stop any time soon. Like Elle UK purported this month, to own a piece from this collection, any collection, is to buy into fashion history. He is set to become a significant player in the world of fashion (if he isn't one already), and unlike any other time a designer has shot to fame this fast, the average consumer is now able to become a part of this rise (and rise, and rise).
I have no money at the moment, so what i'm going to do is just let fate guide me. If there's anything left on the website when i get paid (and this is highly unlikely, but hey, you gotta have faith) then I'll buy it. But if not, well, that's life. I want a few things - the studded sweatshirt, the purple sheer jumper, one of those incredibly cool drawstring bags - but it's enough for me that Kane has done this, and I can write about it.
I can't express enough how great this is for fashion. The excitement it has generated, the buzz it has created in the minds of all fashionistas is a sight to behold. For once it's not the high fashion collection that dictates column inches and editorial bookings, but rather it is a high street store (albeit a higher end high street store) collaborating with the designer of the moment who happens to have both the foresight and the humility to dedicate himself to a project that many of his contemporaries would turn their noses up at. It's bold, it's brash and it's for the masses. Exactly that which good taste and high fashion are supposed to stand against. But, like i said, even when its wrong, Kane makes it right.
Lucky topshop, they're going to make a killing.
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