In Bloom

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I'm not sure we're living in an era where we still blush at a nude form.  So when I saw Gemma Slack's collection that focuses on her interpretation of the 'femme fatale', her sexuality communicated through her body – which physically manifests into photographic prints that either has nudes dancing across layers of organza nad silks, another take on flora and fauna covering up private parts and straight forward trompe l'oeil nudes on swimsuits – there isn't necessarily a gasp moment but instead I'm more interested into whether the nudes are there to add aesthetic value or there just there purely to make a point.  Gemma Slack has always worked the darker side of female sensibility in her clothes and that despite the leather, the black, it never goes too hard, making the clothes hard to feel close to.  I can attest to that with a particular printed crop top that I wear to death and the more I wash it, the more the colours of the print seem to want to run into bleed into each other.

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For S/S 11, together with Not Just a Label, she's launched another crop top as well as a swimsuit/body that are available to buy already.  Using the nudes has actually been Slack's way of introducing colour into her collection and with the hues of bruised pink/purple, the torsos look impressionistic rather than straightforward photographic (thoguh the prints are derived from photographs by Kristin Vicari). On the crop top when the blue rose covers the nipples, which becomes another motif in the collection, it becomes even softer…

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The use of chiffon trappings, used to enlongate silhouettes, was all over the shop for S/S 11… anything that's sheer and looks pretty blowing in the wind is a thumbs up from me…

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A more menacing take on Little Red Riding Hood antics with a leather bonnet… 

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I love this collaboration with milliner Noel Stewart – the wider the brim the better and this one doesn't floop into your face either… the roses from the prints become leather rosettes which is another sign of Slack softening up and deliberately contrasting more feminine elements with tougher ones…

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I particularly love them trailing on this chiffon piece… again, the whole err…sheer thing wafting in the wind…

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Here the nudes become more blurred or slightly abstracted.  There's even a slightly photographic and more macabre version of the Miu Miu S/S 10 'nude bods' shirt that was so well-loved, again laced with leather detailing.  I love it particularly when the print does get more and more ambiguous, becoming a pattern not a form or a colour mish-mash of every nuance of flesh…

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20 comments

  2. absolutely beautiful styling in this lookbook. love the sheer skirt with the leather band at the top, layered under the leather skirt. and best use of nipple pasties ive seen to date.

  3. Hmm I like quite a lot of elements from this collection, but the nudes don’t really do it for me. Because of the colours, they look a bit like battered women :-S Would certainly make you stand out at LFW but not sure if that’s the message I’d want to be giving out
    xx
    Duck

  7. how rısque! ı doubt ı could walk down tunbrıdge wells hıgh street ın one of these pıeces but ı do lıke the collectıon, especıally the pıeces mde of chıffon
    margief
    x

  8. Personally loved it and one to watch… maybe sold her soul with this collection but the press already lapping it up. That’s gold.

  10. Moi: Interesting that you say she has sold out somewhat with this collection – I actually think the aesthetic has evolved a bit and isn’t so ‘obvious’ with its dark tendancies… given that abundance of leather and that ‘hardcore’ style is so done and can sometimes look a bit obvious, I rather think this slight bit of romanticism in the collection makes it more rounded…might be just me though…

  11. I love this collection I think considering the fabrics and overall asthetic it actually looks quite delicate and not overly obvious and hardcore and that leather bikini is stunning!

  14. i love the blue shoes with the lace, they look like lingerie shoes if such a thing would only exist. very naked themed post actually! interessant. also did an outfit post based on you susie if you wanna take a look 🙂http://pretenshuss.blogspot.com/

  16. everything is awful in that collection , beginning with leather shorts , naked tits tee and the disgust on models face.

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