Cosima Gadient and Christa Bösch’s collections always trace back to their native Switzerland, utilizing its traditional lace, craftwork, even bucolic cowbells, yet taking them way out of their comfort zone in interesting ways.
For spring, they sent everything on a trip, perhaps psychedelic, emotional, or physical, maybe all of the above. The models were dressed in clothes indicating they had been through something. Their signature denim, with its warped seam work, was cut into an acid green cropped vest with curvy, homespun laces and worn with pants that had had a run-in with a blowtorch. Denim biker shorts and jackets were also burned and battered and knits came in angry, flame patterns. Then the look shifted from postapocalyptic to a happier new world with satin techno pieces, lace, gingham, Hawaiian florals and The New York Times logo that were cut up, reassembled and layered into do-it-yourself looks appropriate for an otherworldly rave.
The overall effect of the curving cutouts, ad-hoc layers and ample lace-up, strappy accents was improvisation, as if everything was made with whatever limited resources were lying around, but it belied some of the complexity and creativity of the collection.