Cacha-Change-A-Lot

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Morris_Tulip_and_Willow_design_1873 >> In amidst the travelling between Moscow to London to Reykjavik, I almost forgot to react in some way to the news that C√©dric Charlier is parting ways with Cacharel, who somewhat revived the brand in the past few seasons of his tenure.  Not that I necessarily react to every single fashion creative director merry-go-round news that occurs (and there's a LOT of that going on at the moment…) but this one seemed like a shocker considering how MUCH his collections for Cacharel were critically rated and it seemed to me that it had a whole lot more store/shop presence too with the likes Opening Ceremony picking it up as well as doing the pop-up rounds with temporary spaces in Milan and Paris. 

Beyond all the sensible facts though, I was personally quite taken with Charlier's A/W 11-12 collection for Cacharel.  I very nearly posted before the news broke that Charlier was leaving, to say that his way with dealing with the sugary sweet floral print so associated with Cacharel, was continually clever and that I looked forward to his ways of consistently avoiding the obvious floral cliches.  Oh well… I guess I can still say those things except that there will be no more anticipation of the Charlier treatment at Cacharel.

By taking a pencil drawing and superimposing the lines of the flowers over each other repeatedly (I imagine there was a lot of tracing paper and lightbox action going on…), you get a pattern that is recognisable as a floral pattern yet the naturalistic quality of the original flower has been altered.  The precise pencil lines that make up the pattern also slot perfectly into the sort of 'defiant florals' that I was seeing before A/W 11-12 and now they have cropped up here and in other collections such as Mary Katrantzou and Bally and with only selected portions of the pattern coloured in, the resemblance to an unfinished William Morris pattern is quite clear.  The decision to hold back on the colour as well using only soft 'lingerie' colours (Charlier's words, not mine) in solid blocks, provide the perfect delicate background to the lines that almost look like they're a graphic animation in motion with flowers blooming haphazardly as well as flashes of colour filling in the white spaces sparingly.  It goes without saying that smart layers that slot in with each other (particularly effective in the sweaters with a U-shape cut-out at the front) is also a key factor in allowing Charlier's wayward flower beds to prosper.  I suppose it's bye bye subtle buds and hello…?!?

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19 comments

  3. This collection is completley UNNNBELIEVABLE! I just love how the textiles just blew me off my chair! And the shape of that top, the upside down “U” shape….obbbsessive! I love hand-drawn textiles so much..it makes the collection so stand out and special! Hope you are fab, Susie!
    kisses
    xoThe Beckerman Girls
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  4. I love Cacharel, I’ll be interested to see the direction it takes now…
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  6. You really are a treasure to the blog world haha. I love this. What season is this collection for?
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  9. Hi, your right about the unfinished william morris look. All the pieces in this collection are great and it’ll be interesting to see the direction that cacherel take now.
    Beth xx

  14. The biggest thing I miss about writing at ProHipHop is that I got to expose hip hop ripoffs to a national audience. The thing I miss least is that most people didn’t like that if it was, oh, say, Russell Simmons or Jay-Z! I understand the need for aspirational figures but I don’t get folks desire to believe the hype.

  18. I definitely see the resemblance of the pattern to William Morris. What I also like (probably a bit obvious but still!) is the pairing of the floral pattern with really weighty looking fabrics. That coat in the first photo!

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