With her first official PFW presentation on the calendar, Caroline Hu argued that some space was needed.
A short collection of 22 looks, called ‘Reverie’, embodied the need to maintain a degree of personal distance, even from friends, family or loved ones. This manifested itself in various ways, in layers of mesh-like materials or in theatrical pseudo-armors made of cushion-like shapes made with balloons encased in silky or lacy fabrics. Although some pieces consisted of as many as forty elements, they were all based on patterns in primary shapes: a square, a triangle or a circle.
The ‘mind gap’ pneumatics, of course, had a dramatic effect. Once those dresses hit the racks, they will have taken their intended form: deceptively simple, bias-cut gowns with pretty lace trim, column dresses veiled by a ghostly overdress, experimental knits with fringes superimposed like an oil painting, and extrapolated floral prints. of photographs taken through a cloudy glass.
Elsewhere in this grand Haussmannian space, Hu continued to explore favorite themes, for example caging flowers among strands of fabric, or employing traditional techniques and translating them into her own language. One white dress turned out not to be made of beads, but of hand-crocheted plastic lanyards. That kind of sleight of hand – plus some covetable custom Adidas Originals – makes Hu an attractive talent to watch.
