Kenzo

PARIS, October 7, 2009
By Tim Blanks
Antonio Marras is one of fashion's congenital romantics, given to grand gestures that stir the emotions. The backdrop for his latest collection for Kenzo was a huge golden disc—the sun hanging heavy over the Sahara. At the finale, it literally exploded in a shower of gold filaments that rained down on the catwalk while models walked in juicily shaded chiffons—aqua, peach, hot pink—with heads wrapped like nomad princesses. It was a spectacular conclusion to a show that took as its starting point the Middle Eastern excursions of the early twentieth-century English adventuress Freya Stark, then stirred in a little of Bertolucci's film The Sheltering Sky. So there was a Europe-meets-ethnic vibe to the clothes, which was so perfectly in tune with the ethos of the house that it underlined how appropriate a choice Marras was for this job. You could pair the striped drop-crotch pants with the madras trench and you'd have a consummate update of the Kenzo code.

The designer's own inclinations toward a darkish glamour were evident in the floral print he matched with a man-tailored jacket in black lamé, or a draped dress trailing threads of old gold Lurex. His theme of the desert explorer also inspired much easier pieces: big shirts cinched with wide belts, army shorts belted with rope, a natural linen shirtdress. The sheer shift with a sequined camo pattern might be a stretch for the Sahara, but it artfully elevated this season's military mood.