Antonio Berardi zeroed in on daywear for Pre-Fall, but his Prince of Wales checks and houndstooths aren’t your standard guy-for-girl stuff. First, there is the subject of fit.
Berardi is obsessive about it, and so waists were nipped, while jackets and vests—some with elongated hems to give the appearance of skirts worn over pants—closely followed the lines of the body.
The other way Berardi lent his masculine fabrics a feminine touch was with embroideries. Crystals and blunt metal studs crisscrossed a sleeveless dress in a Prince of Wales check (it sounds like a lot, but it worked), and a houndstooth was, as he put it, “contaminated” with a waffle jacquard.
The most striking example of this idea was a robe manteau in an icy gray tweed spliced with a giant houndstooth pattern in a deep teal.
A white V-neck gown with a gathered waist (picture an upside-down peplum) and flap pockets at the hips might be too advanced for the Globes—in Hollywood, but is nevertheless a traffic stopper.
