Show Report
The multi-hued palette and vivid print throughout the collection was also something new for the popular label.
Rag & Bone made it immediately clear this season that they are a brand
continuing to expand – even outgrowing their status as one of New
York’s most beloved purveyor’s of ‘luxury basics’. The label, created
by two New York-based British expats, might have begun modestly as an
excursion into wardrobe staples back in 2002, timeless garments that
don’t buckle under the weight of fast-moving trends, but, evidenced by
their collection for S/S 2011, it has evolved into something
altogether different. Alongside some great, understated everyday-wear
(knitwear was on top form) was some stand-out (perhaps not for the
right reasons) '90s backpacks, alternately black and white harnesses
and Fifth Element-style bandage straps across busts and shoulders, and
techno-sporty silver trousers that, no matter how you look at it, are
not the kind of ‘essential’ item to blend into an existing wardrobe –
or last long in it. The multi-hued palette and vivid print throughout
the collection was also something new for the popular label, which not
only continues to open new stores around Manhattan, but just acquired
another floor in their expansive Meatpacking District loft – a space
dedicated solely to footwear. Designers, Marcus Wainwright and David
Neville, said backstage that S/S 2011 began, “with the idea of desert
warfare... From Lawrence of Arabia and the British fighting in North
Africa to modern, high technology warfare.” A major influence on the
collection came from a collection of fighter pilot G-Suits from
Russia, China and the USA. The designers said they aimed to balance
the “hardness” of the aesthetic with a photographic print derived from
a personal holiday snap taken on a recent holiday in Bequia. The image
was cut up and put back together, scanned and printed onto chiffon,
charmeuse and spandex – and looked amazing as knitwear pieces
constructed from strips of the print fabric, knitted by hand.
