KRIZIA FALL WINTER 2013-14 WOMEN’S COLLECTION – MILANO FASHION WEEK

Jorge Luis Borges would love Krizia’s new Zoo, which could perhaps even appear in a new edition of his famous “Book of Imaginary Beings”, which the great writer suggested should be browsed “as if playing with the changing shapes revealed by a kaleidoscope”.

Because this time what we have is a zoo of dream animals, the fruit of unexpected contaminations between different species: a zebra with a giraffe or a tiger, a fox with a Mongolian fur, or marmot, and a even a mink crossed with an original geometric creature.

The result is coats the likes of which have never been seen before, both in the form of furs, and in prints, embroidery or devoré. To get us started a panther-inspired look is mixed with a biker in the very first model, with willowy black leather silhouettes offering an enigmatic image.

Male and female, light and shade, east and west (with a visible samurai influence), blend together in a new interplay of contrasts, a kind of mirror canon.

This is a fashion designed for a proud, feisty woman who is prepared to defend the fragility hidden beneath her symbolic amour, seductive black leather bodices treated like a light cuirass, with laser perforations, interwoven stripes and laces as well as ribbing, plissés and matelassé, creating volume and emphasising the shoulders.

These are straight in fabric garments, round in leather ones, even pagoda-shaped in certain Japanese-inspired armour-accessories, in perforated leather, joined together with metal staples.

Jackets, trouser suits and overcoats draw inspiration from a masculine, sartorial wardrobe – even including a tuxedo – with a feminine interpretation. Close-fitting trousers. Dresses with a couture style, but up-to-the-minute.

The Krizia plissé returns with a new pinstripe that creates an unexpected glow on the crest of a wave or with a diamond pattern or in leather.

Materials: leather, suede, reinvented fur, cashmere, silk, double satin, often with a raw-edged cut, devoré velvet, platinum laminates, all-over embroidery: it’s all about the mix.

Colours: from deep black to platinum, which optical effects, to the softness of dusty beiges, to increasingly bright shades of burgundy, culminating in pillar box red. Evening dress in shiny platinum.

Knitwear features new handmade effects, as well solids and spaces, in a mesh with contrasting yarns in a mix of wool and transparent nylon. Body-hugging full-length tricot overcoats, some with blazing lining; glossy coatings; plissé effects, kaleidoscopic metal; animalier inlays create forms in movement.

Accessories: nodowa gorgets, collars and bracelets in perforated leather, jewel shoes with a 12-cm platinum heel and sparkling decoration in platinum or crystal and imaginary animal-spot motifs. Open boots with light weaves of laces and interlacing, likewise for certain sandals. Rings with geometricized beasts’ heads.