Libertine designer Johnson Hartig likes to subvert expectations. At a fashion show, the expectation is that you re going to see stony-faced models stomping apace down the runway; at tonight s Libertine presentation, the models grinned, skipped, hugged each other, carried drinks on the catwalk, and pretty much looked like they were having a ball. It was a nice change of pace.
The attitude suited the new Libertine collection, inasmuch as its organizing principle seemed to be Hartig s manic zeal for screen-printing things: A-line coats, a sequin suit, clutch bags, underpants. Unlike Libertine s Fall 2011 outing, which boasted lots of dazzling color, this collection hewed to black and white, though the vintage influence was still strong. Screens of circles, jagged stripes, and Marimekko-esque florals were applied to a wide variety of women s vintage clothes, ranging in date from the twenties to the seventies. The men s looks were signature Libertine, almost all of them a version of the designer s favored long/short boxy-jacket suit silhouette. Hartig did have one definite winner at the show: a T-shirt printed simply with the request, "Tax the Rich More."
