Photo Coverage: Krizia Spring - Summer 2013 Preview

Kritzia's Spring 2013 collection, called A New Lightness, features deconstructed menswear style jackets, geometric lines and colors ranging from ivory to aquamarine.  Cottons and linens enhances their sense of ease while appliques and jewels give the garments that extra something special.  

The new Krizia woman treads lightly, with a sense of moderation, careful to soften any hardness, not to stray into excess.

Naturalness, grace, discretion: these are the new watchwords, the filter through which the designer's classic key motifs are revisited. Among these, one of the first to be given a new lease of life is the inimitable Krizia jacket, borrowed from the men's wardrobe: now it returns, even more deconstructed, rendered lighter with its alternating solids and spaces, opaque and transparent areas, even shedding its sleeves, growing slimmer and longer, to the point of becoming a dress. But do not be misled: these transparencies are not descended from the old sexy see-through style, indeed they are always decorously veiled, forming a structural detail whose main purpose is to make the composition easier to read.

A slim, purist line, based on the geometry of a rectangle, alternates with a softer, more rounded form; in the chorus of dissonance that has always been dear to Krizia's style, androgyny forms the counterpoint to the epitome of femininity. Hence the renewal of the arched line, but with new proportions. Off all the garments in this group, not to be missed is the puffy blouson jacket in raw linen canvas gores, contoured with leather ribs. And given that the season lends itself to travel and holidays, and that the Krizia woman is traditionally a great traveller, we also find this Saharan image (but destined purely for a very idealised, cosmopolitan safari), softened with organza sleeves and ready to transform into the most informal of coat-dresses. Actually participating in sports would leave this woman tired and sweltering, enveloped as she is in her elegant sphere of balanced reserve. No boldly afro sauvageries, then, just a sophisticated souvenir d'Afrique, seen for example in the encrustations of crocodile scales (an allusion to a historic piece, but in a milder, less glossy version) embellishing the bomber jacket and a number of other garments. Continuing the colonial mood, a camouflage print silk suit and animalier references. Black and white embroidered oval discs so light as to seem like feathers; and panthers peering through a tear in a knitted dress, but immediately concealed; and also in knitwear, pumas, pythons and crocodiles; not forgetting the embroidered toucans (so fine as to seem Byzantine), seen even in evening shorts.

Another classic of Krizia fashion, we see the return of a revisited plissé, in the form of short, light tunics. Other tunics come in a barely-toasted coffee-colour chamois, or in gilded leather, but with transparent sleeves and square windows. The line is soft and flowing as always. Subtle transparencies lighten the stripes on cardigans and the inverted pleats on skirts, or cover deep splits. Lengths, with the exception of the odd minidress, are almost all below the knee.

Colours go from natural shades (ivory, sand, ecru) to burnt tones (earth, coffee, cocoa) to a Tuareg blue, aquamarine, black-and-white, white, to a total black, nuanced with transparencies.

Materials, natural cottons, linen canvases, cady, crêpe, silks and satins, organzas and meshes, tulle; chamois and leather. Encrustations, appliqués and embroidery for jewel-dresses. In knitwear, tulle tape, ecru silk gimp for relaxed cardigans and sweaters with or without print.