Emilio de la Morena Spring/Summer 2011
This is the third season showing on-schedule at London Fashion Week for Emilio de la Morena, but the Spanish-born designer has come a long way since graduating from Saint Martins, working for names such as Rafael López or Jonathan Saunders, and creating his own studio in 2006.
The sunny London morning at Lexington Garage in Soho was the perfect setting for a show that drew its inspiration from the work of Lucio Fontana, the Argentinian/Italian painter and sculptor and founder of the Movimento Spaziale, famous for his work in slashed canvas and cut-out holes sculptures. But flirting with art as an inspiration is not new for Emilio: he has a background in sculpture himself and has researched the work of Annette Messager, Eduardo Paolozzi and Eduardo Chillida for his previous collections, always adding his unique touch of contrasting textures, organic shapes, a distinctive colour palette and signature body-con silhouettes.
These are still present in his work today, but for Spring/Summer 2011 he has slightly started to move towards a cleaner look, emphasizing angular lines and graphic shapes with contrasting colours in leather and shades of soft orange, mustard, mint, light blue or coral contrasting with a black and nude background. This look is perfectly complemented by geometric jewellery pieces by Scott Wilson.
The tough and powerful silhouette -which even has a certain bondage touch- is created through slash and laser cut button hole elements, and softened with layers of sating organza starting from the waist. This added a special petal-shape movement effect while the models were walking down the catwalk wearing multi strapped platforms by Chalotte Olympia.
The combination of all these elements create the new atmosphere that is moving the brand forward towards this idea of fusing opposites together in garments that know what fashion-savvy girls want to wear: sexy, polished and edgy designs. I am sure that Julia Restoin-Roitfeld or Olivia Palemno, who were whatching the show from the front row, will be wearing them soon.
Noelia Terrón
Pictures: Morgan O'Donovan.