At J.W. Anderson Fall 2016 RTW, everything is playful and provocative. And something oozed that quirky cool that is Anderson’s specialty.
J.W. Anderson took us on a journey through the past, present and future of cocktail dress for his autumn/winter 16 collection. As the designer described it to WWD, it was “the idea of modern cocktail wear — it’s an exercise in fashion.” Anderson’s idea of the modern cocktail dress jumbled women’s dress through the ages in a megamix of Space Age elements, various tribal decorations and men’s Renaissance tops with rose motifs on them, giving off a whiff of Shakespeare. This was the post-post-modern multifaceted girl out in full force.
This season did not disappoint. In fact, it wowed. Anderson played with texture, color, and shape, naturally, using metalwork and quilting with a huge focus (literally) on oversized silhouettes. To counter a sea of homogeny, the collection celebrated idiosyncrasies and individuality, perfectly conveyed in the David Hicks quote that he was mentioned for his audience on Saturday morning: “The excitement of today is the freedom of the individual to make his own choice and the vast range of possibilities from which he may choose.”
The idea of morphing is a default position for Anderson. He was in love with undulation in this collection, ruffles and ruching and folds. One of the key motifs was a stiffened peplum which floated round the hem of a tunic in bands of colour (very Hicks too). He also emphasised hems with decorative waves of zippers. “Ripples, like sound from a sub-woofer,” he said.
Though there was a lot to take in at a J.W. Anderson show, it was the selection of party-ready tracksuits that caught our attention — and not because the idea seems so weird, but because it actually worked. And everything oozed that quirky cool that is Anderson’s specialty.