Elise Øverland

NEW YORK, February 14, 2009
By Nicole Phelps
Shakira wore Elise Øverland's black leather leggings to perform at the Lincoln Memorial concert two days before the inauguration. So it was hardly a surprise to see a surfeit of leather at the designer's Fall presentation; what was exciting were all the ways she found to manipulate and treat it. A soft little blazer in what looked like purple lamé was in fact a spray-painted lambskin. Another jacket, this one boxier, cropped, and trimmed with mirrored paillettes sourced in India, was made from scratched and coated lambskin that had the stiff consistency of much more expensive eel. "Shimmer" was the show's theme, inspired, Øverland said, by a book about Japanese sushi given to her by her friend Alexander Rower. The same friend also happened to loan the designer his grandfather Alexander Calder's gold jewelry. Not all of the clothes lived up to the artist's timeless necklaces and crowns; some suffered by comparison. But other numbers, like a little cocktail dress with one studded shoulder strap, were plenty cool all on their own.

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