Putting poppies and spacecrafts in the same collection would not be anyone s idea of obvious. As the two main motifs in Alexis Martial s second outing for Iceberg, they represented diametrically opposite ways to explore seventies tropes: one, feminine and free-spirited; the other, retro modern. The real story, however, took shape in Martial s unconventional way of recombining classics. His skirts, for instance, were an asymmetric merger of handkerchief and accordion pleat. His turtleneck knits were capped with a quilted yoke. Trimmed in fox fur or offered in nylon, his extra-long zip hoodies assumed new responsibility as outerwear.
Despite his best intentions, the designer didn t always make a splash. His near-obsessive use of neoprene felt fresh when double-faced with knit; formed into a blazer, the material remained more constricting than a space suit. Multicolored python belts, glossy patent plackets, and Rainbow Brite shearling collars made clear that Martial can think like a stylist. But the spaceship appliqués took a wrong turn along the way from young boy s universe into high-fashion space. He need not try so hard to convince us that he can navigate contemporary Italian terra firma. The simply striped ski sweaters and salt-and-pepper tweeds seemed to make this point cleanly and without compromise.
