Altuzarra’s Imaginative Take on Humble Threads

Two things are essential to talented designers: time to create meaningful fashion and investment. This week, Joseph Altuzarra announced that the French luxury company Kering (formerly PPR) has become a minority partner. Kering owns Balenciaga, Gucci and Alexander McQueen, among others, and is an equal partner in Stella McCartney’s company. The group has generally shown that it knows how to turn small names into larger ones, while letting those brands operate independently.

“We’ll work on building our infrastructure and accessories,” Mr. Altuzarra said before his show on Saturday night, when asked about his immediate plans for the Kering investment. He added, “I want to do things in our own way and time.”

As it happens, Mr. Altuzarra delivered a very compelling bunch of clothes, one of the most polished collections he has shown in awhile. It often seems as though Mr. Altuzarra is pulled by two opposing ideas — hard-edged chic or soft sportiness. He is good at both but he is far more inventive and surprising with the latter. A year ago he did that terrific collection with the railroad striped cotton, and he reinterpreted the dress-and-jacket combination.
Altuzarra Spring 2014.Jason Decrow/Associated Press Altuzarra Spring 2014.

Altuzarra’s Imaginative Take on Humble Threads

This time the collection was all about a blouse and skirt, more or less. “I wanted it to be super easy — a skirt and a shirt,” he said. The red-and-cream striped prints for long-sleeved blouses were based on enlargements of French ticking stripes. They were shown with slim, below-the-knee cream skirts with lacing or ties at one side. There were other variations in navy and French blue, with delicate white specks of embroidery on the yoke of one Oxford shirt. Still another style had a round collar, a slightly nipped waist, and a wide band of powder blue at the hem.

Mr. Altuzarra said the collection was influenced by Japanese Boro clothing, with its patched and worn utilitarian element. “There’s something very humble about it,” he said. One silk print (used for a jacket and a shirt) resembled denim patchwork. Most of the skirts and some of the slim silk shirt dresses (or what appeared to be shirt dresses) had dangly ties or cords at the sides. If there was a fault with the collection it was the ties made things look a bit messy. They could stand some pruning.

There were a lot of desirable clothes in the show, in particular a striped cream poncho, a boxy cream jacket with off-white embroidery and rows of tiny buttons, and a slim navy dress in washed silk with a trompe l’oeil black pullover embroidered with small, clear stones. There were a few one-piece dresses or tops that looked layered, and they were among the best-looking garments in the show.