āIām a child of the ā70s, I grew up with harem pants,ā Duro Olowu recounted as a model wearing one of his busy fall looks strolled into the room, her voluminous pants tamed at the ankle with a cuff of fabric.
There were plenty of winks to his formative fashion decade, from palazzo pants and A-line skirts to shirts with oversized collars ā and the nearly psychedelic prints that gave the collection its zing.
The designer gave a running commentary to a handful of editors who assembled in a Chelsea apartment decked out with flocked red wallpaper, a long, leopard sofa and layers of clashing kilims.
Olowuās bold jumble of original prints ā graphic swirls, stylized florals and stained-glass motifs ā looked right at home, and fell somewhere between jarring and harmonious. āIt just comes together,ā he shrugged when asked how he comes up with his mashups of color and print. āA lot of it is instinct.ā
āElegant rebellionā is how he summed up the season, which hinged on classic tailoring shapes zhushed up with layers of pattern.
āFunky grannyā was another descriptor he threw out for his midi-length fluted skirts and balloon-sleeved blouses.
There was an undercurrent of masculine swagger that made you think of musicians like Prince, or Miles Davis in the ā70s, whom Olowu name-checked when a spectator asked about a long, fringed scarf in that swirling pattern.
Done up mostly in silk-rayon fabrics, silk satin and jersey, the collection seduced with its fluid ease. That said, Olowu noted that he insists on a perfect crease in all of his trousers, including the harem pants.