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“It was the MRI scan that started the idea of the brain working,” Christopher Kane told us backstage. “A lot of our memories are archived in banks – like all those textiles that we stored away, and now we’re bringing them forward, developing them more, and just pushing them together.” This was a mind-boggling collection of 60 looks, brimming with ideas and inventive techniques. Like a play, it unfolded in ever more dramatic acts. At the start, opulent tank girls buckled into blue camouflages and thick fox furs; then intricate burgundy spirals of ferns and flowers and military brocades in burgundy, and chrome-plated throats; then separates in royal shades of velvet, brought back together with looped fastenings; then dark rose flowers blooming out of feathery frocks; then patchwork lace panel dresses; then tops screen-printed and embroidered with bright, dissected brains (with unexpected echoes of Jeremy Scott’s skater bad brains). At the end, as the show’s outstanding techno soundtrack climaxed into a love song, effervescent supernovas of black and purple plastic bounced along the catwalk, representing bright explosions of creativity. “There were a lot of organic structures in there,” explained Christopher, “the woven silks, feathers and furs, the chrome-plated jewellery, the silk lace which was very abstract and beautiful. All very traditional techniques, but upped and added more.”
Christopher Kane’s five words to describe the collection:
BRAIN
CHROME
LACE
FEATHERS
EXPLOSION!
Text: Dean Kissick
Backstage Photography: Justin Borbely
Catwalk Photography: Mitchell Sams
