Meadham Kirchhoff Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear Collection on Style.com: Runway Review

Meadham Kirchhoff

LONDON, February 22, 2011

By Maya Singer

Guests at today's Meadham Kirchhoff show arrived at their seats to find a booklet titled "A Cosmology of Women," comprising zine-style cutouts of images such as Velázquez princesses and photos of Marianne Faithfull. Why? Unclear. On the runway, there were two installations, evoking the shrines that spontaneously appear at the places where famous people meet ignominious deaths. Why? Again, unclear. As the lights dimmed before the show, models clad in the new Meadham Kirchhoff looks could be seen massing at the exit to the catwalk, and when the lights came back up, all the models began marching as one toward the photographers' pit, made a turn, and marched backstage. They came back for one more parade, as before, and then the show was over. Just like that.

The reasons for this speed march, at least, became clear after the show. As Ed Meadham explained, a main theme of this collection was uniforms and uniformity, and so it only made sense to show the clothes in a horde. "There's not much to these looks," Meadham added. "They didn't require being seen one by one."

We'll take issue with that. Ben Kirchhoff and Ed Meadham are deep in their simplicity, and their clothes this season were as rigorously strange as usual. The designers essentially jettisoned the crinkled silks of the past two seasons and invested themselves in bouclé wool—a nod to Chanel that was relatively self-evident on the runway and then affirmed by the designers backstage. There were also takes on school uniforms (little black wool dresses and pinafores) and peasant tops and dresses. It was hard to read the detail in the clothes from the lickety-split runway procession, but that hardly meant it was lacking. There was a ton of hand embroidery, especially in the peasant looks and pinafore blouses, and the wools and knits were subjected to Meadham Kirchhoff's signature meticulous unfinishing. Looking at these pieces again, up close, after the show, you couldn't help but wish the duo had given them their individual due.

But there's no point in resenting designers for the same reasons that you love them. Meadham and Kirchhoff come to their work with an intellectual seriousness all too rare among emerging designers, and they commit themselves utterly to their ideas. If that means messing with the useful conventions of the catwalk show, so be it.

See all from Meadham Kirchhoff › Timeline

A.F. Vandevorst	Acne	ADAM
A Détacher	Akris	Alberta Ferretti
Albino	Alexander McQueen	Alexander Wang
Alexandre Herchcovitch	Alexis Mabille	Alice + Olivia
Altuzarra	Andrew Gn	Anna Sui
Ann Demeulemeester	Anne Valérie Hash	Ann-Sofie Back Atelje
Anthony Vaccarello	Antonio Berardi	Antonio Marras
Aquascutum	Aquilano.Rimondi	Araks
Azzaro

Badgley Mischka	Balenciaga	Bally
Balmain	Banana Republic	Band of Outsiders
Barbara Bui	Barbara Tfank	Basso & Brooke
BCBG Max Azria	Behnaz Sarafpour	Bensoni
Betsey Johnson	Betty Jackson	Bibhu Mohapatra
Bill Blass	Blumarine	Bodkin
Bottega Veneta	Brioni	Burberry Prorsum

Cacharel	Calvin Klein Collection	Carlos Miele
Carolina Herrera	Carven	Celine
Central Saint Martins	Chado Ralph Rucci	Chadwick Bell
Chalayan	Chanel	Charles Anastase
Charlotte Ronson	Chloé	Chris Benz
Christian Cota	Christian Dior	Christian Siriano
Christophe Lemaire	Christopher Kane	Christopher Raeburn
Clements Ribeiro	Collette Dinnigan	Comme des Garçons
Commuun	Costello Tagliapietra	Costume National
Creatures of the Wind	Cushnie et Ochs	Custo Barcelona
Cynthia Rowley	Cynthia Steffe

D&G	Damir Doma	Danielle Scutt
Daryl K	David Koma	Dax Gabler
Dennis Basso	Derek Lam	Diane von Furstenberg
Diesel Black Gold	DKNY	Dolce & Gabbana
Donna Karan	Doo.Ri	Douglas Hannant
Dries Van Noten	Dsquared²	Duro Olowu

Edun	Elie Saab	Elie Tahari
Elise Øverland	Emanuel Ungaro	Emilio de la Morena
Emilio Pucci	Emporio Armani	Erdem
Erin Fetherston	Etro