Libertine

NEW YORK, September 16, 2005
By Laird Borrelli
Libertine took a romp through the British Isles for its spring collection. Queen Victoria replaced Abraham Lincoln as Johnson Hartig and Cindy Greene's seasonal poster child, and they traded nineteenth-century American motifs in favor of portraits of her highness and poets Keats and Shelley. Libertine's signature silk-screens on one-of-a kind reconstructed vintage was back this season, but on a smaller scale. This time around, the focus was on Swarovski crystals, affixed to tulle and velvet, for example, through a heat-transfer technique in flower bouquet, spider web, rose, and skull motifs.

Standouts included a pink rose-flocked coat with a silk-screen lining worn by Lily Cole and a brocade dress with an array of sparkling Victoria cameos attached to it. Alexandra Richards in a lacy, sparkly cheerleader's skirt and a sparkling skull motorcycle jacket had a good-girl-gone-bad vibe. T-shirts with "Drink Old English Dry," "Our Man Keats," and "Our Man Victoria" slogans, which referenced the anti-Pershing tee Katharine Hamnett wore when presented to Queen Elizabeth, offered a more irreverent take on the Old English theme.

Another highlight was a pair of trenches, adorned with Brit artist Damien Hirst's spin paintings (he barters his art for clothes with the duo), signed and dated "9/9/05," taking Libertine's one-off ethos to a new level.

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