If the screened naval yard backdrop wasn t indication enough, the illustrated warship with skull and crossbones was a dead giveaway that Tsumori Chisato had been swayed by pirates this season. As her Paris point person relayed, she took a trip to Saint-Malo shortly after showing her Fall collection. With the apparent enthusiasm of an 8-year-old boy, the Japanese designer absorbed the local tales of intrepid buccaneers who settled on these shores of Brittany when not out pillaging at sea.
And few can milk a theme quite like Chisato, who imagined a pirate s daughter as the muse for one of her hand-drawn prints. Some looks drew more from period costume, like the ruffled blouse updated with an orange stripe down the plastron. The best of the bunch—the most on-message but least cliché—was a blue sheath fronted with the imposing presence of a galleon in intricate white embroidery. As Chisato departed from the swashbucklers, she headed underwater with trompe l oeil painted jeans that, up close, revealed themselves as sweatpants. They were delightfully garish. Colorful shaggy stripes that ringed around coats, skirts, and tunics offered a buoyant alternative for retailers who opt out of pirates altogether. Indeed, the gossamer-thin ivory dress covered in scalloped fringes and paired with a relaxed sweatshirt in circle lace proved how Chisato needn t always be so literal to make a splash.
