Harebell
Fall/winter 2003

For Fall 2003, Shelli Oh illuminates the den where her creative embryos develop—a deeply personal and almost narrative space.

The collection is simple and uses brooding layering while clutching at the sanity of perfect symmetry. Texture is manifold, with greyed sage wool giving grainy character to tweed pants. Leather and fur detail is used sparingly but in the right places. The vanilla matte faux-fur is lush fabric that works fantastically on the three-quarter trench with built-in cummerbund; its brazenness is a welcome trespass into the delicate terrain of antique French lace. Do eyes deceive, or is that a taupe business-casual ensemble of flared pants and v-neck silk top, amidst all this poetic trickery?

The asymmetric skirts look a little awkward and unsettled, probably due to a conflict resulting from their rigid construction defying ethereal aspirations. Yet the emotive qualities of the collection are definitely enough to take one away from cold, detached analysis. It is easy to get lost in the interstices of the silk blouses with pin-tuck and cutaway detailing; the effect is immediate while the reason trails distantly behind. It is possible that the collection's strength lies in leaving these things unresolved, in a David Lynch kind of way.

Daniel Cox
Fashion Editor
Serge Kerbel
Photographer

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