Neil Barrett built his Fall womenswear from the ground up. He started with the pierced punk boots from his men s collection. Then he tried to imagine what Siouxsie Sioux might wear to be interviewed by Penny Martin s erudite biannual The Gentlewoman. Something punk, but refined. That s really the crux of Barrett s ethos. He likes hard edges and bonded, dry fabrics, but he is also a master of beautiful precision and a technical skill that can transform something as banal as a mod s parka into a must-have. It s almost as though needle-punching was invented for him. Two of the best pieces here were the hooded top half of that parka needle-punched into the bottom half of a tailored overcoat, and then vice versa, with the coat s lapels and the parka s drawstringed tail.
Barrett interwove three stories: technical sportswear knits; biker details; and reworked pieces from his menswear. What they had in common was a consciousness of the body. The bikers were cropped in body and sleeve, the outerwear taped with leather or eco-suede to define the form beneath. The dialogue between masculine and feminine elements was Barrett s most sophisticated yet: the softness of an angora sweater with cabled sleeves vs. the substance of an asymmetrical military cape. And all of them in shades of blue and black, "something I ve wanted to do for years," said Barrett.
His new signature, the Kaboom, looked irresistible splayed across a coat, or woven into a star jacquard. The collection s other major motif was the diagonal inset that bisected short leather skirts. Explosions and slashes? But Barrett himself is such a pussycat. It s just his clothes that have got serious attitude.
