SS10 Round-Up: Viktor and Rolf, Credit Crunch Couture

A show is going to particularly grab my attention if a flamboyant, showstopping design duo claim to be making a commentary on society and its economic concerns. Viktor and Rolf say of their Spring/Summer '10 collection “it's all about cut-backs... Everyone has a response to the belt-tightening and recession. This is our version...We took out a chain saw and hacked away at excess, starting with the tulle." This ethos created a remarkable show of contrasts; we see beneath a frothy and whimsical exterior to a sombre wearability.

Finely gathered chiffon panels hold vertical shelves of tulle bursting out in bright purple or green. Gravity defying cut-out horizontal and diagonal slices reveal black and muted body skimming simplicity. Circular bites removed almost carelessly reveal rough layers beneath. A sombre tuxedo jacket or dress and city shorts appear behind girly and flamboyant tulle shapes shining over the top. Sharp V shaped black tux lapels, ever pervasive throughout, cut through softly flowing silk, chiffon and tulle in an array of pastel colours. Every piece represents a dialogue between extrovert joy and pared back sophistication, and so the show holds a dramatic conversation, where ultimately, for me, neither could exist without the other.

The mix of hard and soft, flirty and strong, light and dark, muted and bright, structure and free flowing, grown-up and childlike, and sharp and soft is utterly alluring. It takes some time to understand what you're really seeing, and even then you feel you don't quite know what this duo is saying. Is fashion imitating life in a vibrant discourse, or are they just having some fun?

I can, however, safely say SS10 is the season of some rather attention seeking celebrity endorsement. Emma Watson for Burberry, Lily Allen for Chanel, Madonna for Louis Vuitton, Pamela Anderson for Vivienne Westwood, Lindsay Lohan for Emanuel Ungaro and now Roisin Murphy for Viktor and Rolf. Always one to grab fashion headlines, she appeared wearing a pink tutu falling from her shoulders to her hips, (maybe to hide that she is heavily pregnant) and provided the live soundtrack with the debut of two new songs 'Royalty' and 'Demon Lover'.

Roisin Murphy for Viktor and Rolf SS10, Paris

The final most dramatic dresses showed great skill in construction, a mastery of creation, but I rather imagine, in the credit crunch collection, little expense was spared.