Pringle of Scotland AW2012 nickelsilver “crushed can” heels

Again, what a pleasure to work with Alistair Carr for Pringle…

 

For autumn, Carr took his inspiration from the recent Postmodernism exhibit at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, conjuring up the movement’s graphic, almost kitsch patterns—part animalistic, part graffiti—with a beautiful and original color palette that owed something to the strangely compelling combinations beloved of Ettore Sottsass and his cohorts, including camel, scarlet, mint, rust, baby pink, claret, and a dark green like pine needles.

Those were the starting points for his intriguing and cool way with sweater dressing. Carr hasn’t lost sight of the fact that that is what Pringle of Scotland stands for, so almost every single look had something that had been knitted up. He opened with dresses that were lean and knee-length, with a slight injection of volume into one sleeve to create a discreet sense of asymmetry, before going on into pearl-gray or burnt-orange ziggurat twinsets and skinny silk pants and skirts. Gradually more boyish elements were introduced. There were superlight angora honeycomb sweaters, worn with crisp cotton shirts, color-blocked pants, short pleated skirts, and gorgeous coats whose high collars were faced with soft, fluffy knit in contrasting colors. (Carr had thought about using fur, but nixed it because he thought wool would be more unexpected.)

The pieces, desirable in a direct and simple way, but nuanced enough to be interesting, kept coming: an elongated take on the MA-1 flight jacket in pebbled leather, high-neck ruffled sweaters that caught the slowly emerging Dickensian vibe that has been filtering through the fall collections, and pleated cashmere coats because Carr had been thinking about a girl he knew at school who had a particularly recalcitrant attitude.

All of this was conveyed in a quiet manner, but in a way that was its strength. This is a designer who doesn’t want the heritage of the name to be blown away by tricks and trends. At one point, Carr sent out a simple ivory turtleneck and matching lean cashmere trousers, worn with the fabulous ankle boots he had designed in collaboration with Chrissie Morris and jeweler Husam El Odeh, who’d wrapped designs inspired by metal cans around the chunky, high heels. It likely puzzled some watching the show—where, other than the shoes, was the fashion?—but that was the point. It brought the past and the future of Pringle of Scotland together, and whichever way you saw it, things were looking pretty good.

 

Mark Holgate for americanvogue.com

(thank you for the mention Mark! )