This was the first time District L had attended a Toni Francesc showing, therefore we had little point of reference by way of expectations besides heresay from seasons past. This spring, however, Toni's "Urban Forest" promised to lead us through "an intelligent forest in which we feel closer and more in touch with our natural surroundings".
A lot of designers tend to go down the "let's take a concept, juxtapose it with its' complete opposite, and see what happens" road, but Toni clearly designs with a steady, disciplined hand. The collection, which featured a number of deconstructed looks in this season's raspberry/cream/sage/carbon palette, had an effortless air about it. Even during the latter part of the show, featuring a number of more sculptural evening looks with wooden accents (not faux bois, like, real wood), every dart, buckle, and pleat came across as completely organic and flowed well. The industrial urban element was almost bellicose- mercerized fabrics in that ubiquitous basket-weave texture gave jackets and wraps a chainmail like appearance, and each model was styled like a woodland sprite in an army ready for war. Toni Francesc made a great first impression; his runway sent chills down our spine, and we like it when that happens.
Post by Nicolas Sera-Leyva
