In her black nylon eveningwear, Ridley was a fabulously relevant vision of subtle subversion: her one-shoulder silhouette inarguably elegant, but its slightly binliner-style fabrication resolutely modern. There aren’t many designers who could make household ephemera suited to a premiere on so many levels, but if anyone can do it, it’s Raf. Daisy Ridley proved that the designs had some serious red-carpet appeal.
“This collection takes its inspiration from cinema, from the dream-factory of Hollywood,” said the brand after presenting its runway collection. Paying homage to silver screen icons like Shelley Duvall, Mia Farrow and Sissey Spacek, but with their mid-century silhouettes rendered in plastics and rubber rather than silks and organza, Simons explained that “the aesthetic codes of movie protagonists are endlessly remixed, their meanings given new interpretation and celebration.” Baby blue babydolls became water-resistant anoraks; fringed eveningwear bore parity to nightdresses dripping with blood; stilettos took inspiration from Jason’s mask in Friday the 13th. Cinematic archetypes were distended, and transformed into a wry reflection on their cultural impact and the state of 2017.
