Boudicca

NEW YORK, September 16, 2005
By Laird Borrelli
"Please do not touch the artwork," read the signs lining the central installation of Brian Kirkby and Zowie Broach's Romantic Museum collection for Boudicca at Bumble and Bumble, which was a talcum-powdered runway. This bookish, London-based team is known for their austere and artful collections, but for their second outing in New York, they displayed a softer side. Military references are a signature of Boudicca, since the line is named after a warrior queen, but overall, the mood was lightened by airy eyelet and floral prints.

To a clap of soundtrack thunder, Heather Marks opened the show in a black eyelet dress buckled under the bust and covered with tassels. A white glove caught in a harnessed epaulet hung over one shoulder. Body-constricting devices were limited to neck ruffs, wide obi belts, and a slender gold metal circle tied in a blue bow at the back of a waist. Laser-cut leathers kept company with intricately pieced eyelets. A digitally printed rose-pattern damask complemented a floral-print leather that was worked into a skirt and paired with a light-blue puff-sleeve blouse (a neat twist on Victoriana). A black palette was livened up with the layering of a grayish yellow, blue, and metallic ruby red.

Blame it on the sensitive assemblage artist Joseph Cornell, the designers' inspiration, but the mood was delicate: The finale pieces featured pleated skirts and falls that had a tutu quality. But separates like culottes and a chic pocket-front coat, even the perfect little black dress, were surprisingly accessible and, of course, chic.

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