There was a charming, disheveled opulence to Michael van der Ham’s fall collection.
After opening his show with a range of urban daywear staples, the designer then turned on the charm, with looks that showed his sweetest, most romantic side.
Intro, the irreverent Sixties fashion magazine, and the 1995 film “Party Girl” were the starting points for the designer’s upbeat collection.
Some of the traditional African wrapping references seen in the designer’s resort collection made an encore for spring.
“It’s a hybrid of couture shapes of the Fifties and Sixties, my parents’ fashions, and these rural African looks,” said the designer of his resort collection.
The designer swapped the sweetness and light of previous seasons with a darker, vampier look.
Joan Miró’s paintings and the work of Malian photographer Malick Sidibé inspired the designer.
The designer was inspired by the vintage couture dresses of Jean Patou.
An attention to detail and greater precision gave the designer’s signature fabric collages a grown-up elegance.
Jewel-colored asymmetrical crushed velvet dresses had an innocent and subtle strangeness to them.
The designer worked his signature cut-and-paste aesthetic, using contrasting couture fabrics to create a series of patchwork looks.