With so much doom and gloom about the future and the imminent apocalypse (grab every rubber tire you can find, make a parka and crawl inside!) Opening Ceremony’s vision of what lies ahead was life affirming, to say the least. Carol Lim and Humberto Leon managed to conscript Syd Mead, the legendary visual artist whose work on Blade Runner and Tron essentially spelled out future for us, to their illustrious roster of collaborators. The inflatable hovercrafts parked on the very orange runway were his and so were the not-so-distant cityscapes seen on intarsia knits and print sweatshirts like Mead’s iconic 1980 rendering of Los Angeles in 2013, which incidentally seemed to predict Frank Gehry’s iconic Disney Concert Hall. The future is bright, grab your sunglasses!
Mead summed up his philosophy to Lim and Leon as 'scaling the future by grounding it in the realities of the present.' In a funny way, taking this on board made the designers come up with their most solid collections to date. What would a woman wear to work and what would she go out in (whether that’s by donning her Virtual Reality headset or you know, ironically retro actual going out remains to be seen)? Their suggestion is a black safari-esque jacket with snap-on utility pockets belted over straight trousers and pointy mules or thigh-high leather boots – we’re seeing a lot of those, clearly the future will be wet and stormy. It seems we also won’t be able to stop trying to make the Eighties work with off-the-shoulder sweaters with high-waist jeans and ruched mini dresses, long animal print cardigans and swishy devore velvet tunics over palazzo trousers. Lurex knits layered under shift dresses with pointy shoulders and iridescent metallic jackets were the most obvious futuristic nods whereas single-toned cardinal red and pewter velvet zip-ups over matching mini skirts and thigh-high boots were the most ‘out there’ looks. Look closely and you’ll notice the velvet was embossed with a croc pattern. That’s what crocodiles used to look like in the past, kids!