For his pre-fall collection, Christian Siriano was thinking about sweet things. “This beautiful ombré silk is kind of my homage to caramel,” he said during an appointment, showing off a group of separates that included wide leg trousers worn with a blouse and a long capelet, as well as an easy halter dress. The liquid feel of the fabric added a sense of elegance to otherwise straightforward silhouettes.
A group of pieces in an abstract silver jacquard print he described as “our kind of Hershey Kiss.” He had cut it into a slim-fitting spaghetti strap sheath with a high thigh slit, and into a bustier with a dramatic peplum and a pair of matching trousers. A silver and black laser-cut lace was transformed into separates as well: a bustier, a dramatic ankle-length circle skirt, as well as a crop top, and a sort of handkerchief skirt. “We show it together, but you could wear this with a pair of great black pants, or a great pair of jeans and a fun heel,” he said, holding up the bustier. “You could wear it out on New Year’s or to your holiday party or whatever—the idea is, how do you make evening feel versatile?”
Siriano’s vision for the women who wear his clothes is exacting only in that it’s always glamorous. “We have so many different types of customers now; everybody wears my world a little differently, you know, and we have such an age range.” That’s not to say that he plays it safe, in fact; some of the best pieces of the collection fully gave into a sense of whimsy and fantasy. Dresses made from black velvet and baby pink silk appealed to a most primal vision of what an evening gown should be: one with a black bodice punctuated by pink ruffled cap sleeves and a sweeping mermaid shirt which ballooned at the drop waist was immediately captivating. A black velvet column dress was punctuated with a dramatic ruffled peplum at the hips, another at the knees, and another around the calves before pooling in a subtle ruffled-edge train—it was a minimalist vision for the maximalist at heart. “My last show we did at Elizabeth Taylor’s townhouse and it was such a magical thing that made me realize, ‘oh, I think people really miss the glamour.’ So I think I’m going to stick to it for a little bit longer.”
