"I used to dress musicians who really move in the clothes," Elise Øverland explained backstage before her Spring show. "A stagnant presentation didn t make sense." So, after just two seasons of more informal showings, Øverland delved headlong into a runway debut. It certainly made it easy for onlookers to get an orderly inventory of her fashion-loving front-row fans like Lynn Collins, Becka Diamond, Lauren Santo Domingo, and Yvonne Force Villareal.
There were no Steven Tyler high kicks, but it speaks to Øverland s sure hand with her materials—particularly her signature leathers—that the overwhelmingly body-defining clothes moved and fit with such ease. The designer aimed to expand her go-to palette of black and bone with "color that doesn t seem like color." Meeting this koanlike criterion were flesh tones. They ranged from the quiet calm of a gorgeous rose-nude perforated lambskin dress—high-necked but back-baring—to the glam attitude of a peachy metallic leather blazer and silk trousers.
Øverland pushed out even further with the odd shot of red in a strapless dress set with nude panels, a subtler take on her Mexican wrestling mask inspiration. But of course, despite lighter moments like a cream spotted crepe jumpsuit or a white leather jacket and dress, there was still lots of black, seen not only in leather but also in glazed organza with sequins. That s likely not a problem for Øverland s girl. At any rate, her strong and sexy collection was easily worthy of the runway, even if it didn t exactly scream spring.
