Sometimes it just takes Kanye to say things as they truly are, you know? 'Ralph is God', the up-and-coming designer recently declared in an interview and well, he’s right. Ralph is God. This morning’s show had all the reverence of Sunday service at the Vatican but with this silver-haired pontiff rocking a plaid shirt and worn in jeans.
It was a warm hug of a show. The splendour and old Hollywood glamour of last season was replaced with the comfort and ease that Ralph has mastered in his nearly fifty years in the business. In a palette that never deviated from oat, truffle, cream, fawn and bronze and using cozy knits, suede and shearling made into patchwork ‘furs’ (the company has a long-standing commitment to not use fur products, so everything was constructs of shearling) he showed one standout piece after another, all with the at-the-ranch flavour today’s audience and his loyal global one crave. Cable knit cashmere with matching ribbed socks, feather-embroidered skirts, fringed capes (there was a lot of fringing), a pair of soft taupe suede trousers to live in and a flannel dress with suede panels down the side – it was that rare thing, a fantasy, yes but instantly attainable. We’ve seen many hit coats but none as welcoming as a brown shearling robe of a coat here. Eveningwear was pared back – a long-sleeved, high-neck lace gown in cream, a black silk dress with nothing but a harness strap at the back or how about a tall drink of a velvet one instead? A three-piece black suit with a shearling collar practically swaggered down the runway. Kanye would approve.
