Pringle of Scotland Fall 2012 Ready-to-Wear Collection on Style.com: Runway Review

Pringle of Scotland

LONDON, February 20, 2012

By Tim Blanks

In 1986, when Alistair Carr was 12 years old and living in Glastonbury, he had a girlfriend who dressed, he recalled, as a combination of skinhead rebel and Nan Kempner chic. She recently contacted him again, and that got Carr thinking about what she'd be like now. (He is still a little trepidatious about making actual physical contact.) So he styled a collection around Miss X. The models had hair tipped in intense color, like a punky dye job grown out. Here was her skinhead bomber jacket in textured red-orange leather, and a twisted twinset, the kind of outfit a small-town girl might adopt as an unwitting homage to big-city style. The box pleats of Miss X's school uniform were duplicated in skirts, jackets, and coats. Maybe she'd had a Princess Diana moment, because there was also a jumper with a piecrust collar, and a dress with a ruffle knit on sleeves and skirt.

This being Pringle, there was a lot of knitwear, from a classic cashmere rollneck (still the company's bread and butter, and looking smart in tandem with matching cashmere pants), to the trompe l'oeil cardigan effects that opened the show, to the chevron-patterned jacquards, which were influenced by the 1980's design group Memphis. Some of the most appealing pieces in the show were fuzzy candy pink and mint angoras lined in merino wool.

Carr toyed with color in a subtle but confident way, attaching a mint faux-astrakhan collar to a camel coat, color-blocking navy and orange in another coat. It was odd enough to successfully complement his inspiration, whomever and wherever she may be. A genius finishing touch was the baked bean cans in silver, created by the jeweler Husam el Odeh to wrap around the heels of Chrissie Morris' shoes. With a pair of those, you'd be living in the love of the un-common people.

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A.F. Vandevorst	A.L.C.	A.P.C.
Acne	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 Casasola	Barbara Tfank
Basso & Brooke	BCBG Max Azria	Bebe
Behnaz Sarafpour	Belstaff	Betsey Johnson
Bibhu Mohapatra	Bill Blass	Billy Reid
BLK DNM	Blumarine	Bottega Veneta
Bouchra Jarrar	Brood	Burberry Prorsum

Cacharel	Calla	Calvin Klein Collection
Camilla and Marc	Carlos Miele	Carolina Herrera
Carven	Catherine Malandrino	Cédric Charlier
Celine	Central Saint Martins	Chado Ralph Rucci
Chadwick Bell	Chalayan	Chanel
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 Comfort	Creatures of the Wind	Cushnie et Ochs
Custo Barcelona	Cynthia Rowley

Daks	Damir Doma	Danielle Scutt
Daryl K	David Koma	Dean Quinn
Dennis Basso	Derek Lam	Diane von Furstenberg
Diesel Black Gold	Dion Lee	Dirk Bikkembergs
DKNY	Dolce & Gabbana	Donna Karan
Doo.Ri	Douglas Hannant	Dries Van Noten
Dsquared²	Duro Olowu

Edun	Elie Saab	Elie Tahari
Elizabeth and James	Emilia Wickstead	Emilio de la Morena
Emilio Pucci	Emporio Armani	Erdem
Erin Fetherston	Etro