Should you ever have the opportunity to meet Alessandra Rich, you will undoubtedly agree that she does not seem like a lunatic. But her weird and wonderful new collection of eveningwear made it abundantly clear that she must have a screw or two loose, somewhere. It was even nuttier than her last collection, which was inspired by two imaginary Russian gymnasts. This time out, Rich effected a meeting of the minds among Scarlett O Hara, Miss Havisham, and Nancy Spungen, if they d all found themselves working at the Moulin Rouge in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. There were about a hundred different kinds of French lace, some of it mesh, some of it metallic, some of it leopard-spot patterned. In other words, if Helena Bonham Carter got it into her head to design a collection, it could very well look like this one. And in other, other words, it was strangely awesome.
