Okay, what do St. Augustine de Canterbury, a corporate girl boss, and a raver creature of the night have in common? Time. Its passing, its ruthless nature and its tendency to promote change and transformation. What they also have in common, at least within the confines of Shanghai Fashion Week and this one part of the internet, is this CPlus Series collection.
Designer CT Liu explained backstage after his show that the goal was to harness the essence and power of time. After all, time is the only constant in life. “The idea is to show how abstract time can be presented tangibly,” says Liu. How he took this from abstract and esoteric to tangible and wearable was by focusing on his fabrics.
Liu aged and bleached denims, mottled leather and silk, and felted fur into cozy knits. He scanned jeans – with their wrinkles, tears and stains – and printed and overprinted them onto flowing dresses, pleating strips of silk sideways around the body to create sheaths that fell off his models, the way clothes do after a long day or an evening out. out. longer night.
Overall, the collection carried a patina that made it feel lived without losing its edge, something Liu confidently conjured by offering a range of clothing made to cover every nook and cranny of one’s life. There were office-ready sweaters, jackets and trousers; sexy going out dresses, bodysuits and micro mini skirts; and homebody hoodies, knits and everything else in between. A tighter edit would have made Liu’s message come across with more impact, but what was clear is that this is a designer with a special talent for creating a covetable garment. (This season, find it in a supple leather jacket wrapped twice around the body and buttoned, or in a silky lilac asymmetrical top, with one of the sleeves falling from the neckline into the bodice.)
Liu closed his show with a series of glittery knit dresses and separates. They were chic with a hint of hedonism, and the kind of clothes you would want to wear on a night out; that you hope will freeze time so you can enjoy it longer. It was St. Agustine who said that time manifests itself in our world through transformation, an idea that Liu eloquently projected in his realization of this fall wardrobe.
