Elegantly off-beat

Marni plays with circular and semi-circular structures in its Spring/Summer 2007 collection. The Italian brand provides joyful women with curved cuts and vaporous volumes - mostly shaped with abstract and asymmetrical darts.

Dresses, tunics, long jackets and parachute-light easy jackets swell like sails in the wind. Cinched with wide belts, looped ropes or even casings, they go well with jersey leggings, and slips with cotton finishings, which cling to the body like a wetsuit.

The crunchy lightness of fabrics - such as silk tulle and cotton mesh - is suffused with the crystalline shine of glass. The delicate allure of jersey voile interplays with the thicker and firmer quality of canvas or poplin, of cotton and paper matting or leather and patent leather.

Ring-shaped armholes, necklines and hems help form a seductive look, featuring juxtapositions of stiff and soft, eclectic pattern plays, combinations of prints and plains, see-through and opaque double weaves.

This season, the colour range veers from the hues of canvas, alabaster and marble to the darker hues of steel grey or hematite - with accents of citrine yellow, juniper green, navy blue or coral red.

Accessories include big, rounded and floppy bags in aged leather with patent leather shoulder straps or small oval handles. Patent leather pumps with the highest heels or leather sandals and sabots often cobbled with a transparent plexiglass sole, wooden or patent-leather covered platforms and heels.RT

Bangkok Post
Friday February 02, 2007