Sharon Wauchob opened her show on Thursday with a series of flowing black dresses with asymmetrical sleeves, one constructed of multiple panels around the upper arm and the other voluminous and draped. The sleeves were joined in the back, and the frocks rippled alluringly as they came down the runway.
The show took place on the top floor of a garage in Paris’s unpretentious 3rd arrondissement to a soundtrack of grinding rock. The girls wore their hair long and falling around their shoulders, with a streak of orange above each eye. The shoes were simple ankle-boots in matte black and grey, and they wore small, elegant gloves in black leather which stopped just before the wrist.
A native of Ireland, Wauchob is an alum of Central St. Martins; she worked for Koji Tatsuno for a number of years before starting her own label in 1998. Japanese influence can be seen in her taste for asymmetry and meticulously conceived construction, but there is nothing self-effacing in her clothes. Instead, they draw the eye with a juxtaposition of textures and innovative pattern-making.
Next came a series of black and grey coats in what looked like a soft, heavy wool with darts down the sides. Each had the look of a wardrobe stable, the kind you can wear year in and year out.
Wauchob ventured into shaky territory with a second group of coats covered in tufts of fur and floating grey fabric, which teetered on the edge of wispy shapelessness. But the show was redeemed by the dresses which ended the show, including a zippy little number in shiny fabric the color of burnished bronze, and another, in deep burgundy, made from what looked like light, closely woven netting.
Something which was somewhat lost in the bustle but nonetheless deserves attention were the pants: pleated and voluminous around the hips, they narrowed at the thigh and clung to the legs, with leather insets over the shins. Though probably unflattering for anyone with a normal-sized waist, it was a great look.
Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.
