Bold shoulders, daring angles and scalloped edges. Sculptural tailoring is currently dripping off every page of high-end fashion magazines. Creating powerful body shapes that command supremacy and authority at a time of financial vulnerability, this defiant trend forces instant power status.
An increasing number of designers are now playing around with the organic shape of the body, creating defiant shapes which inhabit space beyond the body itself. Designers accommodating this trend are most notably Jil Sanders, Nina Ricci and Balmain. The movement has even been rendered by the next generation of designers at the Royal College of Art in their MA show at the Victoria and Albert Museum. New designer Abbie Shaw developed a box-like dress with curvaceous panels and an enlarged zipper protruding down to the bottom of the garment. A playful nod towards the current structured garments of the season.
Although this look has yet to make its presence known within street style, celebrities are still willing to don the trend. The likes of Lady Gaga, Kate Hudson and even Kate Middleton have toyed around with the structural styles, buying into these new and authoritative garments. “Exaggerated shoulders are the ultimate in power dressing, from Balmain’s sharp spikes to Balenciaga’s softly puffed styles”, explains Miranda Almond, fashion editor at British Vogue.
In the past, dramatic architectural formations that distort the natural silhouette have appeared in collections by the likes of Alexander McQueen in the late nineties, as well as Franco Moschino much earlier in the eighties. With such a dramatic effect created by angular definitions, it is not surprising that this trend is springing up once more.
“This season, designers cut with razor-sharp accuracy and a precision eye”, says Sarah Harris, fashion features writer at British Vogue. “Even Christopher Kane’s delicate organza looks hard-edged, thanks to heavy black piping”. This is the rise of powerfully structured garments; certainly not a trend for the faint-hearted.
Image Source: Marie Clare
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