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Neil Barrett

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PARIS, March 7, 2011
By Nicole Phelps
You don't have to be a size zero to wear Neil Barrett anymore. After last season's second-skin silhouettes, Fall is more relaxed, at least in parts. Pleated pants cropped and cuffed above the ankles qualify as the most forgiving trouser shape Barrett's ever done. He showed one pair with a cropped double-breasted blazer, and the other with a dress coat, the notches of the lapel lowered to the waist. Note the colors, too. Blush, nude, khaki, chestnut brown—when have you ever seen those here before? The designer is also experimenting with a kind of doubled construction that pairs a clingy, scuba-tight under layer with a more sculptural top layer—bonded leather for a cropped jacket, say, or a nubbly wool for an overcoat. The interesting thing is that the top layer is cut out in parts to reveal the inner one. Barrett will always be a dyed-in-the-double-face-wool minimalist, but kidassia goat fur added a seductive note to the fitted blazers he's known for.

More proof that it's a new day at Barrett: He showed a trio of black floor-length dresses. The most interesting was draped to the waist in front and had a bare back with a butterscotch leather belt-cum-corset peeking out. It summed up Barrett's new soft side without letting you forget about the tough side that you loved first.

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