Fall Fashion 2014 / Romantic Fashion

 FALL FASHION 2014 > Dark Romance

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Perhaps it’s all the talk about the newest Star Wars installment (Preen featured Darth Vader’s masked head), or the current worldwide obsession with Game of Thrones or maybe it’s a knock on Lana Del Rey effect, but the fashion world is agog with all things dark, moody and fantastical. This season saw some surprising designers embracing melancholic themes (the ever-preppy Tory Burch for example) showing that a bit of mystery can work for any style.

Valentino, the champion of all things dramatic and allegorical, showed off floor-length tulle gowns completely see-through save for embroidered foliage and roses. Marios Schwab, Vera Wang and Alexander McQueen channelled the Pre-Raphaelite style, with billowing sheer gowns made dramatically dark with otherworldly make-up and a severe centre part up top. Dolce & Gabbana and Blugirl both picked up on the romantic fashion trend with their doe-eyed models-come-storybook-heroines donning fur-trimmed hooded capes. Blumarine’s navy blue cape dripping with golden flowers and Undercover’s stark white overcoat with blue painted trim, were more grown-up versions of the fantastical look.

Several designers used fabrics heralding back to the hey-day of the exotic Orient to channel a certain flavour of dark romance and foreign glamour. Anna Sui, Erdem, Etro, and Louis Vuitton each used naboika and chintz style patterns to conjure-up a sense of the unknown that lies beyond the horizon. For those in the mood for something a little more modern, Mary Katrantzou moved beyond her go-to printed fabric medium and wove a laser cut metal pattern into chain-mail, creating a completely modern R2-D2 look. For the complete modernist, Rodarte’s sci-fi dresses featuring a screen-printed CP-30 skirt is about as modern as it gets. Clearly then, dark romance has a little bit of something for the fantasy nerd in us all.

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