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LONDON (AP) - Scottish-born designer Christopher Kane tapped into flower power for his spring and summer floral fashion collection Monday, and the petals pulled him through despite a confusing detour or two.
His London Fashion Week catwalk show, held in a sprawling, two-story warehouse fitted with floor-to-ceiling mirrors, started out with a science fiction vibe.
Models in pale pastel colors and daring teardrop peep holes trod a mirrored walkway as pulsing music echoed off the iron colonnades. Some of the first models wore metallic paisley cutouts on their collars or lapels, suggesting something from the Star Trek Enterprise. The shapes may have been meant to resemble petals, but some outfits were so heavily peppered with peep holes that the effect was lost.
The collection was on a firmer footing with diaphanous gowns with lots of pleats and more girl-next-door sweaters in floral tones bearing words like "PETAL" and "POWER."
Deborah Latouche, a stylist said afterward that Kane put together a strong collection.
"I really liked the sweatshirts because they were accessible," she said.
Less accessible were Kane's hologram-effect dresses with thin, glittery streamers that were so delicate a few floated off as the models strode up and down the catwalk. The dresses looked like party wear in the year 3013. Also on the odd side were sheer black dresses festooned with traffic-sign arrows pointing at each other.
Far more successful were his asymmetric dresses with crystal-encrusted shoulder-straps.
One fashion-watcher said Kane's bulbous, sparkly jewels reminded her of Greta Garbo, the classic femme fatale whose role in 1929's "Wild Orchids" sees her pin a seductive bouquet to her left shoulder.
"They were like poisonous flowers," writer Marta Represa said of the floral bling.
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