Maurizio Pecoraro s never been one to hold back his artier inclinations. Jackson Pollock, this time, was the source of the very literal abstract-expressionist purple-and-blue splatter print that appeared on an off-white pantsuit and was translated into 3-D embroidery on another jacket. There were shades of Rothko, too: In the finale, models wearing hand-painted silk dresses lined up in a tableau against large colored panels, forming a striking visual composition—undermined, somewhat, by the fact that Vera Wang plumbed Rothko s rich archive some seasons ago, and to more subtle effect.
That was the trouble with this collection. Pecoraro s artsy indulgences—for instance, Native American feather jewelry and a fringed suede poncho worn with, of all things, cuffed turquoise cotton trousers—got the better of him. If there s a link between modern art and American Indian costume, it s not an obvious one. There were some real, wearable clothes out there, like the pretty party dresses in this season s jewel tones, but the aesthetic disconnect proved distracting.
