Who: Peter Pilotto
What: Signature digital prints, sporty scuba details and sea-like crystal embellishment on structured, feminine dresses and draped separates. Primary colours and dimensional neons have an exotic flora and fauna feel, and perspex heels are fabulously futuristic.
Highlights: Perspex Nicholas Kirkwood heels which echo the collection’s prints and embellishment; a printed mullet dress, cut-away at the front but structured and floor-grazing at the back to look like a sparkling sting ray’s tail; eye-popping prints.
Lowlights: Are you kidding? This is one of our favourite collections so far.
Overall: If this is the kind of holidaywear Peter Pilotto like to present, we wouldn’t mind jumping on board their plane next season. For spring 2012, the design duo’s signature digital prints take on the forms of the exotic – the Pacific Ocean reflected in waves, Idonesian foliage shown in indigenous flowers – to create something really rather fantastical. Patterns look three dimensional via embroidery, beading and crystals, encrusted by hand over printed fabric to create texture. Sportswear and suba details, like neoprene trims, industrial zips and racer backs add a tough edge to the feminine fabrics and shapes, which are often volumised at the hip or nipped in at the waist with fluted, pleated skirts. Sporty corset tops add structure, paired with skirts that echo the shapes of the crashing waves, and the designers’ trademark draping is evident in silky separates. Colours come from the ocean, rich in blues and turquoises with pinks and corals acting to soften, but most effective, perhaps, are the retro primary colour prints in true blue and red, and neon swiss lace in zesty lime and orange that looks fabulously futuristic. Spring 2012 also marks Peter Pilotto’s first foray into swimwear in collaboration with Lisa-Marie Fernandez, where neoprene swim pieces featuring signature fabrics and prints slip in seamlessly among signature dresses. Peter Pilotto have delivered a stunning spring collection that’s both pretty and punchy, and it’s one of London’s best spring shows yet.
Watch the video of Peter Pilotto’s spring/summer 2012 collection below…
