Christopher Kane: back at his best, thanks to sex

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 19, 2018

A welcome return to form for Christopher Kane, whose main inspiration may not have been that original yet nonetheless provided the impetus for a punchy collection that managed to be both sassy and chic.

 
The Scottish designer’s source? Sex, and quite literally the joy of it - seeing several of his final flesh-colored layered dresses trimmed with marabou feathers featured drawings from those classic manuals The Joy of Sex and More Joy of Sex by Chris Foss and Charles Raymond.
 
Kane remains very much his own man, and not someone who follows contemporary trends. So, while his British peers are all working the color spectrum for fall, Kane worked in the darkest of palettes – from black to burnished silver to plum to a dash or two of sinful red.

Given the current zeitgeist where women are rightfully demanding and winning more respect in the workplace, most designers have pointedly shied away from overly sexual themes this season. Again, not Kane, half of whose passages featured see-through lace skirts; guipure lace minis; transparent cocktails and barely-there slip dresses. Even his mohair coats and jumpers had shoulder zips, open to reveal a lot of flesh and lacey bras underneath.
 
“Something that Mrs. Robinson might wear,” suggested Kane, who called his collection “playful, prim and perverse.” All three sound about right.
 
Kane at least echoed one huge trend – protective fashion. For winter winds he did whip up some pale gray fine herringbone, articulated at the arm or sleeker; and faintly dominatrix, leather blousons. Lots of everything finished with beads and crystals. You’d almost think you were in Milan.
 
Yes, sex with a practical side. None of his ladies walking on tottering high-heels; many in lace plastic boots or funky new sneakers. These turned out to be a series of new spring-heel shoes courtesy of a partnership with Z-Coil orthopedics. Now, that is kinky.
 
“I never shied away from sex in the collection and this one is no different. Since the beginning, I have found it fundamental to the idea of women; women with their own power who create their own worlds and are in charge of them,” insisted Kane, perhaps more in synch with the zeitgeist than at first sight.