A murder took place on the East River in New York tonight—a fictional fashion murder, that is. For Christian Cowan’s spring collection, the designer brought his guests out to a midtown riverside show venue, and then placed them right in the middle of a spooky murder mystery. The story was that all of Cowan’s runway models were fleeing a glamorous party where—dun, dun, dun—someone had just been poisoned. Whodunnit? And who was next? Some models ran for their lives down the catwalk in their sky-high stilettos; others sauntered fiercely, while holding a flashlight and looking around bewildered. Call them all Cowan’s final girls. “I’m a cinephile, and I love a good murder-mystery thriller,” said the designer.
While the theatrics of it all were centered around escaping a psycho killer, the clothes were less horrifying—more built to party the night away in. Cowan is known for his splashy evening wear, after all, most typically built on loads of crystals and feathers—but this season he said he challenged himself with doing cocktail attire in a less ostentatious way. “I don’t ever want to get stagnant,” he noted. That resulted in a mostly-black palette of shiny satins and leathers, with the occasional splash of sparkle and blues. (Cowan can never resist a bit of sparkle.)
His opening look, a white satin bra top with lace trim, and a shredded bubble skirt, suggested the model nearly escaped a knife-wielding killer. The sea of black dresses that ensued certainly weren’t classic or timeless: some were totally sheer and floor-length with a train attached to the hand, others were in shiny leather and super strappy across the chest and abs, dominatrix-style. Cowan managed to make even the most saucy (if not slightly trashy) silhouettes feel subdued, a tricky balance to get right. There were clear attempts at upping the taste level here, though a few of the heavily logo-branded pieces felt unnecessary, and the star-shaped chest cutouts tricky to wear.
But it was the satin suits and tailoring that really felt fresh. They marked a more grown up, sophisticated side of Cowan. Some of his sharp blazers were punctuated with a closure of a real rose dipped in sterling silver; it’s a fabrication he debuted at this year’s Met Gala, when he wore matching suits with Sam Smith. Cowan also had to make one blazer in a silver shimmer fabric, of course—a nod to sparkly flapper style, which is popularly referenced in murder-mystery parties. “I wanted to bring people to an imaginary time period that doesn’t really exist,” he said. “It’s an amalgamation of the 1920s and 1940s, with some modern elements thrown in.” Sure, the show was macabre-themed, but his streamlined designs showed real promise.
