Preen
REVIEW
COMPLETE COLLECTION
LONDON, February 18, 2001
By
"Why is it all these girls look so soft and I look so hard?" asked a voice-over on Preen's runway soundtrack. The rhetorical question was a perfect allusion to Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi's deftly manipulated collection.Preen's clothes are clearly meant to stand out: Slouch tweed pants were paired with windowpane button-downs with gathered or ballooned sleeves creating the top-heavy silhouette that remained a constant throughout the collection. Thornton and Bregazzi are known for their way with hides, and this time around they went for cream leather asymmetric skirts with button-encrusted sashes; a suede jacket was generously ruffled at the side, while trousers were cut perilously low; a series of cropped fur tops brought to mind a defiantly chic cave woman. As if all this wasn't enough to make quite a statement, Preen's embellishments included dangling beaded lace appliqué's, jangles of rosaries, stitched-on buttons, and giant rosettes that trailed in the back of skirts.
see all designers ›
