Jonathan Saunders turned out to be an approachable and romantic for his Spring 2015 collection. Set up his collection against the imposing architecture of the British Museum, the designer sent out creations that looked handcrafted and played with volume, which gave a dolllike feel to some of the exits. Saunders defined sweetness and innocence, while at the same time underscoring Saunders’ not-quite-what-she-seems woman. Needless to say that when Jonathan Saunders tackles femininity, there’s much more than sweet innocence rumbling beneath the surface.
He opened the show with a black slender coat and trousers – covered in fragile white bows and flowers. And when the bows got bigger, as they did when they wrapped trouser waists, they looked like the work of an origami expert, reminiscent of Rei. Though some of the silhouettes were girlish, Saunders’ quirky color palette — sky blue, teal, russet brown and black — gave the lineup a subversive edge. As did the flat sandals and shiny, boyish ankle boots, the latter of which Saunders paired with a striking teal-and-black puffball gown, to sweetly rebellious effect. This is the proof that Saunders doesn’t deal in banal ‘pretty’.
Midway through the show, there were three papery-thin dresses, printed with abstract patterns and delicately ruched vertical drawstrings running up from the hems. Simple but exquisite, they were probably closest to Saunders’s heart. So what’s the rationale behind this idea? ‘A piece of paper,’ he said. Saunders found the most incredible paper fabric in a Japanese mill; the lightest thing we could ever imagine. This papery-fine fabric appeared in slim dresses, hand-printed with paper-shaped shadows in watery blues and greens. And that was at the heart of this excellent collection – lightness of touch. And Saunders’ still-subversive woman. (Text Teuku Ajie)