Don t be put off by the hermaphrodite polar bears. One of the pleasures of a Mother of Pearl collection is the way it challenges your expectations of what you d like to see in a print or an intarsia knit. This season, debuting the brand s first Resort collection, Maia Norman and Amy Powney worked with artist Gary Hume—one of the original YBAs—and adapted his colorful canvases into eye-popping floral pieces and pastel-toned cashmeres featuring, yes, hermaphrodite polar bears. Previous outings have seen Mother of Pearl make neat work of Fred Tomaselli s vicious birds and Fiona Banner s dry ISBN numbers.
The trick here is the designers commitment to luxe fabrications and finicky cuts; a pair of Hume-floral jogging pants or a square gray parka with a contrasting pale pink leather hood wouldn t amount to much if they weren t executed in top-notch materials. The new peplum theme, witnessed in both tops and skirts, might have come off heavy-handed if the shapes had been handled with less flair. Those peplums add a welcome feminine note to MoP s sporty mien, but Norman and Powney don t mistake femininity for fussiness. You could easily imagine the Mother of Pearl girl—or woman, for that matter—wearing one of these peplum skirts with the same ease she would the collection s quilted running shorts. Topped off with a silk button-down in a hermaphrodite polar bear print, natch.
