"Has it occurred to you that there are many clues in this room?" The answer to that question—as posed by Albert Finney s Hercule Poirot in Sidney Lumet s 1974 adaptation of Agatha Christie s Murder on the Orient Express—was today, sadly, a no. For despite Hussein Chalayan s hints, none of the resident runway sleuths gathered backstage with him afterward detected that his collection was an ode to Christie s mystery. As with all well-crafted whodunits, however, once that crucial fact was revealed, each previously confounding detail fell neatly into logical place. So then—let us examine the evidence.
Exhibit A: Suspense and implied violence—Christie s murder was a vicious stabbing—were suggested via the chopped-at shoulders of an opening faux-fur shawl jacket and the slashes at the back of a black turtleneck shawl. Cloche and dagger had met at the cut left ear of Chalayan s hats.
Exhibit B: Two jacquards—of mountains and of snow spotted on tartan—pointed to the snowstorm that stopped the train on the night Christie s victim was bloodily dispatched. Another jacquard, of half-linked circles and diagonal blocks, was directly inspired by a pattern worn by Hildegarde Schmidt, the stonily suspicious cook from the film. And the embroidered figures on Hussein s halter-neck dresses were mug shots of Poirot s suspects.
Exhibit C: Strangeness on a compartmentalized train was communicated via the skirts and dresses with detachable pleated “curtains” that looped under the knee. The utilitarian wear—leather dungarees, combats, monkey boots—was Chalayan s nod to the stokers and boilers that Christie herself pretty much ignored in the original story. Although seemingly slight, Chalayan s Orient Express conceit was an admirable vehicle for his own fabric-borne brand of mystery—which was, in its way, every bit as polished and ingenious as Christie s. A killer collection.
