Size near-zero, grazing six-foot and crowned with flowing locks of hair that bring to mind Jerry Hall during her 'Jerry Ferry' mid-seventies heyday, Annette and Daniela Felder are the sort of lithe, leggy lovelies that can wear pretty much any designer. When you boil it down, that's really the main issue with their Felder Felder collections: besides a concerted stab at that punky, leathery, studdy aesthetic a few years ago, they've never really defined what their style really is, instead flitting like magpies from source to source.
It's not a recipe for disaster: many designers swear by that creative process - a snippet of Poiret, a dash of Dior, whisk it up with some Ossie Clark and you have a remix for the here and now. Misses Felder and Felder, however, seem to do their sourcing a little closer to home. Witness Autumn/Winter 2012, with its digital prints, bodycon knitted and fringed dresses and flowing chiffon gowns. They trotted out as if by rote, all the components a paint-by-numbers fashion show in London aught to have, and all components done before, and better, by other designers. There was a touch of Katrantzou, a dash of Erdem, a fillip of Mark Fast, even a backwards glance to archival Preen shearlings (they were London kids once too, you know).
You could imagine Felder and Felder wearing every single piece, but where was the handwriting of a designer label with something new and fresh to add to the table? In a week crowded almost to breaking-point with show upon show (and a bulging off-schedule roster to boost) there's no room for filler. Which is, essentially, what this Felder Felder collection ultimately added up to.
