Wunderkind

PARIS, October 4, 2008
By Nicole Phelps
Wolfgang Joop is Paris' resident eccentric. He brought the zany once again for Spring, following up last season's space romp with a collection that was more grown-up but barely less whimsical. He said his frame of reference was the sculptor/architect Isamu Noguchi and pre- and postwar Japan. That explained the olive-drab, military-inspired cargo jackets and pants that he paired with multicolored rose-print blouses, and, somewhat more tangentially, a butterfly superimposed on a checked chiffon that he used for floaty, away-from-the-body dresses. The line connecting those Eastern references and, say, his lace-doily numbers was a bit fuzzier; for quirkiness, he hit the jackpot with a white coat in the frilly stuff. If you didn't ask yourself too many questions about the viability of Joop's creations—multicolor polka-dot suit, anyone?—this stream-of-consciousness collection was an amusing ride.