Arthur Mendonça
spring/summer 2007

Arthur Mendonça’s spring/summer 2007 collection marches to a military drum, albeit a romanticized one.

It’s impressive that this collection is one of the few to buck the trends, using khaki green, bomber jackets and tight necks to make its point. I doubt I’ve ever seen capri pants in the trenches, and that plays nice counterpoint to the severity of the other pieces, along with the frilly chiffon pieces that remind us that it is, after all, about spring renewal. 

Finally—Mendonça women allowed to be frumpy! The relaxed-fit sweater over a canvas skirt could’ve been worked so easily into something military, but here it just reads as laissez-faire lounging. I guess a designer can get sick of streamlining, too. 

I don’t feel bad about going off-topic because that’s exactly what Mendonça’s Toronto show did, and he wasn’t the only one. A note to stylists—you cannot make something look cool simply by slapping a pair of two-sizes-too-big sunglasses on a model. It’s a shame that designers who’ve established themselves continue to rely so heavily on cheap styling, and on top of that, to do so in a way that distracts from the architecture of the garment.

Daniel Cox
Fashion Editor
Marek Wlazlo
Photographer


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