Iconic mannequin Carmen dell Orefice s presence in the front row of the latest Jaeger show was a reminder that exactly 50 years ago, she was photographed semi-naked on a Caribbean beach by Norman Parkinson for a Jaeger campaign. That was a memorable moment in the brand s 125-year history. Karen Boyd, the brand s current head of design, tried to create another with a dark, dramatic collection that was a little too contrived to be entirely successful. The first look, for instance, was a strapless jumpsuit with a boxy little pagoda-shouldered jacket striped in black and ecru, like something from Glasgow s Arts and Crafts movement (Chris Kane featured a similar motif in his show earlier in the day). The same shoulder and the same banding dominated the show. They gave it a retro feel (sort of sci-fi retro, like Blade Runner), which came through elsewhere, in a polka-dotted tea dress, say, or an Art Deco print of glass shards, or a kimono coat in black and a shagreenlike shade of green. (Echoes of the archives, perhaps?) A lot of effort went into the textiles: hammered silks, boiled wools, crocheted overskirts, lacelike perforations, lacquering, and several herds of alpaca, which shed their pelts for skirts, jackets, and coats. But all that work wasn t so well served by the uniform darkness of the palette. Alternatives to the black were icily pale, almost android shades of green, blue, and cream.
