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Christopher Kane never knows where his brain waves come from. Maybe that’s why after his extraordinarily idea-packed collection he was telling people that he’d been looking at an MRI brain scan while his synapses were firing away about camouflage prints, big coats and jackets, kilts, feathers, velvet, and lace. “Why, but why?” chorused the press corps surging around him after the biggest show Kane’s staged in his seven-year career. “I don’t know,” said the blue-eyed boy of London fashion, shrugging into the dazzle of flashbulbs. “Things come to me. The brain works in mysterious ways, doesn’t it?” Across the room, his sister Tammy was laughing: “We always have this many ideas. We just wanted to put them all out there this time, and not hold back.”
The reason for this new show of confidence a cast of 60 models and a football-field-sized venue was sitting in the front row: Kane’s new backer, François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of the French luxury group PPR, alongside his wife Salma Hayek. “I’m really impressed, I must say. What he did is so strong, sensual, modern,” Pinault beamed. “And there’s so much to work on.”
The scaled-up collection had its upscale aspects, too, though this wasn’t a show in which Kane abandoned his love of what he calls a “feral wee girl,” or his Scottish roots. Perfect example: the fact that the Christopher Kane biker jacket of the season is an oversize bundle of street-glamorous fox fur. Or that his kilts, reiterated in many ways throughout, are handmade by a traditional maker on the isle of Orkney and the evening ones ended up with feathers sewn on the edge of every knife pleat.
What will Kane souvenir-hunters rush toward first? Probably his oversize, drop-shouldered coats and jackets, some of which are fastened with kilt-buckles there’s something glamorously tough about swimming around in a big shape like that. Or it might be a blue feathered tulle sweater, or one of the bold lace dresses with coiled metallic plastic neckpieces.
Kane trophy-hunting is a seasonal sport for many young women, though some older ones will be able to join the game with this collection. Fox-trimmed coats would work for ladies. Or the beautiful claret and deep blue velvet dresses, with bands of loopy lace inserted, perhaps. All this suggests that Kane, only 30, has a lot further to stretch to reach new markets and really get going with accessories. That would all come under the formal corporate title of “brand extension,” but still, what will underpin it is something as emotional as the electricity of excitement generated by a show like this one. Salma Hayek said it best when she was hugging Kane after the show. “All those girls!” she cried. “You could tell they were so proud to wear your clothes!”
Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories
Photo Credit/Source: VOGUE
Runway: Photography by Marcus Tondo / InDigitalTeam / GoRunway
Details: Photography by Aitor Rosas / InDigitalTeam / GoRunway
Details: Photography by Aitor Rosas / InDigitalTeam / GoRunway
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