Oh the things Haider Ackermann did with leather for A/W-they made us swoon, but not quite so much as the press did after Tilda Swinton wore one of his looks to the Cannes Film Festival. The designer admits that the onslaught of media attention "piled on the pressure" but that didn't stop him from whipping out another fantastic collection, this one inspired (apparently) by colonial India.
I have to admit, upon perusal of the collection's 32 looks I was left wanting for something to back this up. Aside from a few looks in saffron and the odd jodphur inspired pant here and there, I didn't really see what Ackermann was talking about. Semantics aside, the runway was killer. The draped leather jacket, executed in the creamiest leather imaginable is rising to become his signature piece. The beauty of it is that you can work a leather jacket into an ensemble for any season- in A/W it's a daywear essential, and for S/S the same jacket in lighter material complements an edgy evening look. Pairing the jackets with floor length gowns is another look Ackermann seems to have mastered- it reminded me of Balenciaga's tuxedo jacket/gown play for A/W.
So despite a somewhat ill-fitting title, the collection did not fail to impress; we can easily see the Haider Ackermann jacket becoming an essential for every girl's closet very, very quickly.
