Neil Barrett wants his woman to be one fatal femme. Even the boots he d given her in his new collection were pierced. But tomboy toughness was the only attitude that really worked with the militant strictness of Barrett s Pre-Fall. He claimed he d gone back to his menswear roots before he designed for women, and sure enough there was the same hyper-tailored, hard edge, the almost skinhead severity with which he first made an impression over a decade ago. Yet the collection also testified to Barrett s growth as a designer. "Boyish but feminine" was his own take, so for all the fitted little loden jackets, combat pants, and military capes, there were lean, sexy elongated knits, or a tank dress slit thigh-high with knit needle-punched into double-faced crepe. Barrett s technical skill never fails to produce special effects, like the artfully twisted seaming that loaned a bias cut to pants, or the eco-suede that was raw-cut so a pleated skirt was inconceivably thin and light.
