Christopher Kane’s debut collection for Mulberry was an exercise in minimalism, and sharp edges, with lots of laser-cut leather and sleek lines reflecting the shapes of pockets and flaps on its best-known handbags, including the Bayswater and the Piccadilly.
Leather dresses and skirts came in a palette of neutrals — taupe, cream, caramel and chocolate — with car-wash pleats and, in the dresses, curvy cutouts around the shoulders. Minidresses were adorned with layers of leather flaps, like abstract ruffles, while boxy coats got a similar treatment with square cutout details at the front.
Kane’s knits had a similar geometric precision, with those same car-wash flaps. Eveningwear, too, had its share of flaps, although they were smaller — the size of sticky notes — and made from a papery-nylon Japanese fabric that Kane loves, and has used before. They fluttered across shift dresses with a Space Age feel.
The only real softness and drape in this collection came in the shape of oversize Mulberry sweatshirts, revisits of those Kane remembered from his youth. “Those football casuals were always part of my culture. It’s how I knew Mulberry growing up. Working-class kids with their white jeans, pristine, and wearing those shirts,” he said.
Although this collection was attractive in parts, it didn’t feel in step with the times or with fashion’s move toward embellishment, color and exuberance. The quiet luxury that defined the post-pandemic years is a thing of the past.
It’s also difficult to see women moving with ease in some of those leather dresses, especially the embossed crocodile ones with the wide sailor collar, which looked structured and stiff in a world where drape and comfort rule. Even the bags and backpacks looked stiff and hard-edged.
These were show clothes and accessories, not ones for real life.
