Richard Nicoll said his approach to his latest womenswear collection was really simple: "It s how I d want to dress if I was a woman." But there was also enough in the collection of how he likes to dress as a man to give the clothes a particular boy/girl frisson. Not androgyny, more the kind of polymorphous glamour that is something of a Nicoll signature. For Nicoll, the oversize men s shapes—coats, jackets—will always reference David Byrne in the Talking Heads tour movie Stop Making Sense. But there was also a picture of Debbie Harry in a tank top pinned to the wall of his studio, and somewhere between those two poles, the contrary conservative/rebellious spirit of the collection took shape. "Special normal" was the designer s own tag for his mix of luxe and casual. He talked about "fabrics in disguise," like his "denim," actually a cashmere woven. Which meant that a look as seemingly utilitarian as a drop-waisted "denim" jumpsuit was actually the consummate expression of Nicoll s hi/lo ethos.
New for him were biker details, from a jacket in orange leather all the way to subtle references like the diagonal zip on a sleeveless shift, or the draped lapel on a cocoon of ice-blue silk. Nicoll also used patterns from nature for the first time: A croc-stamped jean jacket paired with baggy "denim" pants, or a croc-stamped angora sweater paired with a skirt in dove-gray patent leather both offered a relaxed take on luxury. So did Saga furs intarsia-ed into herringbone patterns (more of that polymorphous glamour).
If confidence has sometimes been a distracting issue for Nicoll in the past, his new collection had the subtle swagger of a focused designer who knew he d done good. And it offered further proof that if Nicoll starts with himself (anyone who saw his recent appearance in cult trans mag Candy will know just how great he d look in the orange organza dress with which closed the show), he can t go wrong.
