Mary Katrantzou’s Olfactory Fashion
Back when she was growing up in Athens, Greece, Mary Katrantzou had a perfume collection. “Then I got bored with it,” the designer says. “And that was that.” Now Katrantzou has another perfume collection. At her debut fashion show in London on Tuesday, Katrantzou will be sending out a group of dresses based on prints of perfume bottles. “Some are iconic bottles, like Shalimar, that I’ve tweaked, and some are vintage bottles I’ve played around with. And some bottles I’ve only imagined,” she
explained at her studio. The Central Saint Martins grad, who has made a practice of patterning clothes around her photorealist prints, went on to note that the idea for the scents series came partly from seeing the way the female form has inspired the packaging of perfumes by Givenchy and Gaultier. “I thought it would be interesting to turn that idea on its head,” she says. Katrantzou’s show will also feature her own oversize jewelry, which she has manufactured at her mother’s furniture factory in Greece. “They’re a little hard to wear,” she admits. “So I’ve made some trompe l’oeil jewelry prints, too, and dresses and gowns. So,” she adds, “you don’t have to look like a perfume bottle if you don’t want to.”
What a genius Idea. I swear designers are getting so creative,ive never seen such a beautiful perfume bottle. I would buy the bottle simply to put on my shelf as a piece of art. Great work Mary Katrantzou. Thanks for the Eye Candy.
Melonie Calderon
Redlands, Ca