In a week that calls for patience, strength and endurance for all involved, there are few moments during the collections that offer up a quiet beauty and softness. Haider Ackermann’s spring summer 2010 show was one of these rare moments, bereft of fanfare and celebrity, that hung with a sobriety and respect for his austere, regal aesthetic. It was attended not by a bevy of hangers-on nor club kids, but a concentrated selection of the top international press and buyers who have come to recognise the powerful duality of Haider’s garments – the strong and the delicate, the rough and fine, the matte and lustre, the drape and cinch – the qualities that make them covetable, wearable, and sexy yet discrete.

The show took place in the simple setting of the Beaux Arts de Paris across the Seine on the Left Bank, with an expanse of draped black fabric providing a sombre backdrop for a collection with a depth that was all but lost in the dark. Through a sparse fog and to a throbbing, crescendo soundtrack, Haider’s nymphs emerged first in pairs, then alone, in a dreamy sequence that played out in staggered movements and poetic pauses.

Bright mustard yellow, lapis lazuli blue and the softest lavender were the vivid chromatic compliments to the more standard array of dark neutrals that inform Haider’s colour palette, all realised in fluid silk satin, cashmere jersey, luxurious leathers and a new crushed, technical silk. Silhouettes were a study in revealing and concealing the body – the mystery of a floor length skirt balanced with the sensuality of the exposed clavicle, shoulder blade or decolletage.

The hips were a focus for artful bunching and draping with an almost bustled effect, lengthening the legs and further defining his silhouette as a deconstruction of the female body – a celebration of a thigh split, a strong shoulder, long asymmetrical necklines, fishtail skirts and scooped backs. Far from the sex-fuelled trend of ‘body-conscious’ dresses, Haider cuts an intelligent design – pieces that react to the feminine form without restriction yet with an unmistakeable sensuality that continues to celebrate the body without exaggeration or excess.

The final walk of inky black evening pieces was an eloquently orchestrated end to the show – with a dramatic one shouldered toga dress in twisted jersey, slashed across the ribcage – the fierce, striking girl cupping her naked breast like a warrior with hand on heart. With an air of similar devotion, the crowd applauded Haider as he offered a modest bow – the bow of a designer content that the woman his designs embody will have ego and confidence enough for the both of them.

This article was originally written and posted here by Dan Thawley for A Magazine Curated By.

“Haider Ackermann’s spring summer 2010 show was one of these rare moments, bereft of fanfare and celebrity, that hung with a sobriety and respect for his austere, regal aesthetic.” Read my review on A BLOG CURATED BY

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