Name: Tatyana Parfionova
Main message: According to show notes, Tatyana Parfionova is the first Russian brand to participate in Tokyo Fashion Week, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. But while her collection would surely appeal to her customers back home, it left something to be desired in front of a Japanese audience.
The designer chose to show only dresses — no separates. And while this was ostensibly done in order to challenge customers to come up with their own styling concepts, it ended up feeling repetitive. The theme for the season was “black dragonfly,” and Parfionova employed motifs of clouds, lily pads, flowers and foliage. She also mixed prints and textures, which wasn’t always successful. One look that missed the mark consisted of a tiered skirt of yellow tulle layered over yellow sequins, with a strange shopping bag-style netting over the bodice and black sleeves with metallic polka dots.
The result: The choice to focus on a single garment with very little variation in silhouette resulted in the collection falling flat, despite a riot of print and texture.