Anna October attributes some of the clarity of her fall collection to distance. The clothes were made not far from his hotel in Kiev. Without distraction, the designer said he is able to “find the depth and richness of simple things through details and through the perfect fit.”
As always, his starting point was color—and the lack of it. Like many designers this season, October was first drawn to graphic black. Starting there, she added intense reds and blues as well as some dusty makeup shades. The palette was an expression of October’s desire to provide “elegant and sophisticated rather than pretty and playful” for fall. Exposed shoulders are a trend that has emerged in pre-fall, and October believes it created the perfect LBD in its early form, an off-the-shoulder number with internal structure to keep the straps in place.
For most of October this season was straight and pencil thin. She demonstrated exactly how this silhouette could be achieved through modular separates by introducing leather-look satin bombers, short jackets, and stand-alone corsets. One is a beautiful color blocked, and the other, in white, with a delicate fold on the side. No Anna October collection is complete without a lingerie touch. Corset hooks and eyes were used here as detail on the back flap of a tube coat and garter belts dangled from the hem of a fluffy sweater.
October’s goal is not to be a designer who dresses a woman from dawn to dusk, but for memorable occasions. A rich brown jacquard dress with a long bodice that was designed with a shape and slightly dropped waistline with a full skirt ideal for dancing the night away.
