Collette Dinnigan

PARIS, October 7, 2009
By Nicole Phelps
Fantasy is one theme of the Spring collections, and Alice in Wonderland was the muse Collette Dinnigan channeled. It took a while to get to the fun part, though: The designer opened this dress-focused show with a passage in pre-rabbit-hole black and white. There was a little lace, some tulle, and rhinestones galore, but no organizing theme to distinguish these frocks from those of another designer on the occasion dress floor of a department store. After Alice took her notorious fall, however, things got more interesting. The boldly colored, painterly floral prints of Dinnigan's ruffled and tiered dresses—the models wore them shrugging off of one shoulder—had a real personality. Of course, we all have to come back to terra firma sometime, but it was a bit of a disappointment to see the designer return to the safety of black and white in the long evening looks at the end.