I did say that there were very few womenswear designers right that showed as part of the LCF MA show that played out at the grand Raphael Gallery at the V&A. All throughout, I was mentally ticking each graduate off in my head going "One for Steve... another one for Steve... ANOTHER one for Steve...". It was almost enough to make me defect over to menswear but Steve has also got to the best of them with his profiles of graduates like Matteo Molinari and Yan Liang.
Still, surely there'd be SOMETHING for me. The phrase 'Throw me a bone' gives an inkling to Dinu Bodiciu's MA collection which at first sight to me seemed to reference a visceral quality of the human anatomy from the skin-hued flattened mohair textures gradiating to the sanguine bloody hues that come up as a bit of a shock.
"Broadly described, the starting point of my collection was the thin boundary between illusion and reality, the imperciptible transition from reality to illusion. Reflected in a mirror, our body is flattened and what we take for granted as a true image of ourselves, it is actually an illusion. This phenomenon is even more interesting since mirror has a crucial role in shaping our identities and mediating our relation with the world. I became very interested in the effect of the mirror on our bodies: the way it turns 3-dimensional shapes into 2 dimensional. Playing with perception, I gave to my collection a certain flatness quality."
Weirdly enough, whilst there is this flat n' matte effect created by a sublime choice of fabrics that were purposely chosen to emphasise these 'flattened' shapes, the 3-D curvature, worked into the jackets in particular as well as the interlocking petal shapes in a few of the dresses were also very apparent. Somehow the exaggerated shapes when balanced with these fibrous textures seems to tone the curves down rendering them organic looking rather than being superfluous in shape.
I almost lost out Bodiciu to the 'other side' as he had a moment of wanting to switch to menswear (I wonder if there's a movement within MA fashion students that is propelling this shift to menswear) but for now, he's keen to experiment within womenswear. If he were to explore other avenues, it seems he also has a dab hand in intriguing millinery too as he made these straw half mask, half-hats that blend so seamlessly with his clothes
I also have to thank Bodiciu in a way as this passage in red came on quite suddenly in the show and in a way has partially cured my iffy relationship with red, through shock tactics simply by being so comparatively bold when following the nude and beige tones. There's also something to be said about this nubbly wool texture and this particular shade of scarlet that works together quite beautifully.
(Backstage photography by Morgan O'Donovan, Lookbook image credits - Photographer: Christopher Agius Burke, Make-up / Hair style: Kayoko Kishi, Model: Leontine / First Model Management Agency)
