Paris based Dutch designer Steffie Christiaens delivers her first collection through a baptism of fireculpting a progressive silhouette that betrays a poignant science.
Forcing symmetry from chance reactions, Christiaens’ captures an instant of metamorphosis in her designs, translating an intrinsic wearability from unconventional processes (which include scorching and melting vintage garments). Her textures and shapes mirror the effects of heat; the contortion, disintegration and volatility of transformation. Futurist elegance is balanced by a refreshing softness, in pieces that express an artistic personality with a minimal feeling.
The deep colour palette mimicks charcoal and powdery ash, lifted by the brilliant cobalt of a piercing blue flame. Nude tones are chemical as is an oily purple silk, while silver neckpieces echo delicate carbon filaments. Tailored capes and angular coats meld sharp structure with organic forms in rippling cashmere, supple leather and exotic skins. Trousers are often double-layered rising as a silk sheath over wool or draping to a single pleat at the ankle.
Body-conscious dresses are constructed above the knee in black and nude 3D gazar, while classic blazers and shirting are subverted with cutout details (as though dissolving away at the spine or hip). Blousons in luxurious panels of crocodile or nubuck python are spliced with jersey, offering movement and new volume through suspended layers.
Alongside the Christiaens woman, a menswear capsule arrives in five silhouettes continuing Steffie’s aesthetic with a firmer hand and harder angle. Jackets expand in voluminous backs and high collars, as trousers fall slim on a buckled boot.
A final walk of couture dresses and technical knitwear demonstrates the alchemy of Steffie’s vision with cylindrical piping formed into stiff planes and arching tulip skirts, cocooning the body in a perpetual helix.
Steffie Christiaens
