"I was thinking of the 1940s. And then I went to Mexico for a wedding, and everything changed," said Tia Cibani, who, with her Spring collection, aimed to blend the two ideas—the silhouettes of the 1940s, the colors of Tulum—into a cohesive offering.
She succeeded, for the most part, evoking the spirit of Frida Kahlo along the way. A simple sheath was made modern with a pixelated Aztec print, and a dotted jacquard jacket and matching pencil skirt were given a retro touch with a portrait collar and pleated peplum. That dotted jacquard popped up again and again throughout the collection—on a formfitting patchwork dress it added an almost preppy element.
But the real story here was color: Mint, pink, fuschia, gold, and azure blue mixed so well together in different prints and patterns. It was nice to see shades for Spring that aren t so saccharine. Where Cibani could have held back was in layering. One look, a pair of pedal pushers worn under a pencil skirt and topped off with a flouncy blouse and a flouncier cropped jacket looked bulky, even on a model. Separately, each piece was admirable: Given that Cibani s customers will buy individual items rather than whole looks, that s not such a bad thing.
