Maybe we were misled by that adorable lavender runway, or those cool striped pieces—we thought we were getting a modern take on Italian knits, and instead we got—we’ll we’re not quite sure what we got. Yesterday, Graeme Black’s first Les Copains runway show during Milan Fashion Week was a little hipster, traditional, trendy and frumpy in what we would (very loosely) call a “collection.”
First of all, let’s talk prints. Stripes, polka dots, houndstooth, chevron, reindeers, hearts, flowers, butterflies, some type of tie-dye—the list basically goes on forever. One minute a puffy grey Christmas sweater comes out and the next we’re seeing Talbots-esque cardigan sets, which would be fine if there was any sort of direction—but there wasn't. We’re pretty sure we’ve seen more cohesive collections from Parsons students.
The color was consistent; black, grey, white and muted accent colors kept everything looking uniform, even if the styles didn’t. Taking a look at each piece as a separate entity opens up the line for more positive criticism, but at the same time leaves each garment to either succeed or flop on its own. There were some fun pieces—in particular a striped dress, a dusty floral mini-dress and metallic jacket—but unfortunately, there were more pieces in the failure pile.
As this is Graeme Black’s first collection with Les Copains, it's understood that there's a learning curve, though it seems he’s having a rough start. Subtle glimpses at beautiful cuts and fabrics showed the collection had potential, but was never able to come to fruition with all the false starts and mis-matched themes. Were he to tighten and refocus his vision, the brand could be looking at a much better future.
