Amidst the new sexiness that swept the spring collections (chilled lifestyle luxury at Gucci,
fluid chiffon dresses
just about everywhere, ’50s A-line skirts and a generally loosened, body-skimming silhouette), designers showed clothes coming off the body to define a freshly feminine, deconstructed sex appeal. How else are we to sum up jersey dresses with
dripping necklines and armholes or a taffeta, back-laced skirt coming undone at Boudicca?
Hanging straps and unpinned battle galactic get-ups at Preen?
Silken men’s shirt falling off the body and morphing into a delicate blouse at Viktor & Rolf, or the hip swinging skirt (pull a knot and it drops straight to the floor) worn by Kate Moss at Burberry? Skirts bunched up
like little bomber jackets coming off the waist at Helmut Lang? Lace trim and mini satin tops giving ladylike come-hither at Valentino, barely-there
chiffon tops hanging from crystals at YSL Rive Gauche, or the arrival of
the undressing goddess at Sophia Kokosalaki? Her pleated chiffon tops
cascade across the breast, pull over shoulders, looking chicly tattered
and begging off. We’ve done our forecast on deconstruction; this new
design feature is about exposing new areas of the body. Drooping fabric to
expose a vertical breast line and layering beneath, showing skirts
appearing pulled back, on their way down. It almost signals sex in motion:
a t-shirt pulled, losing its shape; an unbuttoned top, slipping off the
shoulder after frisky necking. It’s also about playing with dimensions (3D
in some cases), new lines, and new areas to capture the eye. Working on
his oeuvre, Nicolas Ghesquière threw chiffon dresses stringing over
neoprene bathing suit tops at Balenciaga. And Hussein Chalayan toned down
his customary draping and concentrated on the shoulders, cheekily and
commercially working the trend that caught up to him.

- Jason Campbell
Photo: Viktor& Rolf Spring 2004