It was a cross-generational moment backstage at Jill Stuart as the designer introduced her mother, a former designer, and daughter Morgan, who s now working with Stuart and joined her for a post-show bow. Her Fall muses spanned decades as well. "I was thinking of women like Charlotte Gainsbourg and Marianne Faithfull," she said. "Women who aren t afraid of mixing prints and silhouettes and textures."
The dark, rock n roll-tinged mix on the runway included sexy body-con draping and its polar opposite, heavy menswear tailoring with chunky, sometimes head-swallowing, knits. Dresses came very short and tightly wound around the body, some with asymmetrical necks, others with big shoulders—a sort of Balmain for the teenybopper set. However, one of the best, a black lacquered lace frock, had only a nipped waist. These abbreviated numbers will no doubt be well received by the global flock of trend-loving girls who have made Stuart s business a booming one, but what was more interesting here were the less skin-baring looks. Hooded sweater coats and menswear-inspired evening options, like a tuxedo jacket and shorts or a lace blouse tucked into high-waisted trousers, had a sophistication that s often missing at this label.
