Morales - spring/summer 2009
Renata Morales marked her return to L’Oréal Fashion Week by delivering a thrilling swirl of textures, colours, and prints.
Morales spring/summer 2009 is a textural feast, from ruffles to embroidery to pleats. A body-hugging layered blue dress has a dimpled finish, set in gridlines that are offset by the shifting blues beneath. Sequins shimmer from within wispy silk creations that conflate ready-to-wear with couture rather deftly.
If it appears that this collection is dress-heavy, it’s because nothing else could contain the large-scale photographic prints of Japanese landscapes that Morales works in, a not-so-subtle nod to Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara. Cute chiffon dresses in pastels such as red, key lime green and powder blue are bunched this way and that, like dollops of icing on a birthday cake. Some of these sprightly spring creations are darkened with swaths of black—let’s not forget that Day of the Dead was the theme of one of Morales’ recent collections.
The voile dress and other variations, with giant faces looming out of swaths of silk, is reminiscent of this haunted quality that we’ve come to expect from a designer so brazenly unconventional. It’s good to be reminded that the wild can never be tamed, even though they can be made to play nice from time to time.
Daniel Cox, Fashion Editor
Marek Wlazlo, Photographer
