The magic of A Midsummer Night's Dream infected designer Junko Shimada for the spring collection. Colors and patterns, lace transparencies and cottons that have a sense of the playful, magical and impish were her concept. Models emerged from behind a lovely, sculptural oak tree that set the scene, with their heads covered in leafy afros. Their delicate faces emerged from the leafy hairstyles that brought the theme to life. Shimada created light and airy clothes that seemed easy, not fancy and mixable with pieces that keep the season accessible for her audience. Entering the space we were greeted by a magical, hand-made oak tree that brought me directly to the stage of a Shakespearean play, where the players find themselves in forests outside the great city, and adventures and fantasies began. This collection was set to bring us on a fantastical journey, but the clothes themselves were not perhaps up to the concept, seeming uneven and rather unfinished in their ideas or conceptions.
