“But I miss you most of all my darling, when autumn leaves start to fall “. (Frank Sinatra)
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Haider Ackermann had big shoes to fill this season – his own. Last season’s show with its masculine tailoring and 80s metallics was one of our favourite memories of SS12. Of course the Colombian proved once again, there’s no end to his talent. Taking on a very feminine silhouette for AW, he told i-D, “We wanted to accentuate waists, to give more shape, more structure”. The waist was the focal point of the whole collection, defined by huge stiff, cotton reel shaped belts, V necks cut down to the waist, paired with high-waisted trousers, and dresses that draped in different directions from one middle point at the waist. Playing with points and panels throughout, you couldn’t really call the jackets ‘jackets’ and the skirts ‘skirts’. They were larger than life – sartorial sculptures that twisted and turned with huge curly cuffs and rippling peplums. And then there was colour. As if we were seeing it for the first time. Ackermann’s colours are an exact science. Taking his inspiration from “looking out the window during Autumn… I didn’t have to go very far this time”, burnt oranges, deep purples, olive greens and a pink/bronze colour that was all his own brought the clothes to life, either contrasting (orange peplum on purple coat) or complementing (hues of brown and purple). Traffic on this catwalk was one way, so you only had one chance to see, the falling leaves that marked the ever-rising success of Haider Ackermann.
Text: Sarah Raphael
Photography: Mitchell Sams
Click here to see our AW12 Womenswear coverage in full.
