IN Milan we weren’t yet sure whether Miuccia Prada was out on a sartorial limb when she started dangling cars as her motif of choice in front of us. She often is – and manages to coin a whole new zeitgeist in the process – but you never know. But the point is, she’s not the only one for whom cars have been the starting point for their spring/summer 2012 collection. Step forward Akris’ Albert Kriemler.
The designer took his inspiration from the 1966 film Grand Prix by John Frankenheiner and combined these reference points with photo prints – which ranged from clusters of people perching on blocks of colour to look as though the clothes were somehow part of Gulliver’s Travels, to zooming cars speeding across shifts or glam Monaco settings sitting at their dress ends and extending – the speed reference again – up over the shoulder.
Elsewhere and you’d probably be hard-pushed to notice the inspiration – a waft of pleated skirts on dresses, some lace here – but the more streamlined and angular tailoring was a more subtle reference. But we think we like the talking point prints more.
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