Akris' Brătescu-inspired couture-worthy ready-to-wear

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Sep 30, 2018

One day Akris should really stage a haute couture show, because the latest ready-to-wear collection from this Swiss house looked far more like couture than many of the collections staged during that official season.

Staged inside a tent at the back of the Pavillon Ledoyen at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées these spring 2019 clothes had all the polish, sophistication, finish and quality that one normally associates with couture, even if the show invitation said prêt-a-porter.
 
Akris creative director Albert Kriemler was inspired by a collaboration with Romanian artist Geta Brătescu this season and her artwork, notably some beautiful silk georgette patchwork dresses echoing her famous pink Linia collages, breathed throughout the show.

A three-meter-high arch made of cardboard in the center of the runway also recalled Brătescu´s famous magnet photomontages. They, in turn, led through a very beautiful opening series of taffeta dresses, drawstring pants and silk crepe blouses all done in her Magnets in the City prints.
 
“Geta felt magnets are a great expression of human relationships. She believed that people can be very attracted by their opposite; while also being repelled by people who seem very similar too them. And I think she is right,” said Kriemler, who first met Brătescu in Athens at the famous twice-a-decade art exhibition, Documenta 14. Later travelling to her studio in Bucharest, and then returning weeks later with his first sketches and fabric swatches for this impressive collection.
 
Silk satin slip dresses; preciously cut stretch jackets with magnate closures; a rather divine lilac trench and a series of asymmetrical, one-sleeve chiffon gowns were all worthy of a couture runway show. Little wonder Albert garnered sustained applause at the finale, led by his most faithful fan, Princess Charlene of Monaco.
 
A worthy homage to the power of art in fashion, and a great memorial to Geta Brătescu, who sadly passed away on September 19, aged 92. But her canny spirit lived on today on the Champs-Élysées in this show.
 
Roll on a couture debut for Kriemler and Akris.