Wunderkind

PARIS, October 2, 2007
By Nicole Phelps
If Janis Joplin and Ziggy Stardust had met and run amok in one another's closet, they might've come up with something like Wolfgang Joop's Spring collection. In a departure from both last season's Edwardian tailoring and the severe menswear for which he has such a predilection, Joop went for no-holds-barred glam rock with a boho twist. He layered intricate leopard-spot beadwork over ikat prints, acid satin blazers over dhoti pants, and sporty anoraks over smock dresses—showing it all with wedge platforms worn with colorful ankle socks and the occasional woven fedora. Decorating the edges of coats and jackets, meanwhile, was a red floral bandanna print borrowed from the scarf Joop tied around his neck to take his bow.

"It all started with this," he said, pointing to the bandanna afterward. "In the beginning, I wanted a West Coast feeling, something natural. But it ended up so crazy, you can't get arrested." Crazy, maybe, but totally in keeping with one of Spring's prevailing trends: seventies bohemianism. In his third season in Paris, Joop has at last struck the right balance between chic and whimsical, and it made for a lighthearted, fun show.