When you think about ‘tie dye’ what springs to mind? Festival wear, hippies, summer t-shirts, beach wear? Maria Grachvogel has created an label which strongly focuses around psychedelic digital prints which have a clear tie dye influence, but her collections do not look anything like the stereotypes above. In fact Grachvogel only does tie dye in a show stopping, elegant glamour kind of way. Draped, statuesque, back less, shoulder less – basically smouldering Grecian siren. It is not only all prints, she regularly dips in to block colour silks, glittery golds and staple blacks but the bright, punchy prints are a signature style which run through all her collections.
This season she moved her show on to the big, bad main show space at Somerset House for the first time. The show opened rather subtly – muted pastel shift dresses with chiffon cut outs and respectable v-necks. As the show progressed, she gradually worked up to her signature prints – in bright pinks and white, intercepted with block lemon yellow gowns. Look of the season for me was actually a bit off the Grachvogel style – a bright pink print swimsuit/body layered with a big parachute rain coat – it was simple, but impactive and ideal for high summer.
Across the board, accessories were kept minimal, as per seasons previously. Stunning geometric peach heels by designer, Atalanta Weller gave the looks a grungey edge which worked well. It would have been fantastic to see more of these additional touches in the show. Grachvogel always creates such stunning, show stopping garments, but the main space is such a big space to fill and I felt that she could have really pushed the collection further. Her recent past collections have been shown in spaces such as the more intimate, and very beautiful Savoy ballroom – places which are very busy visually. I almost wanted the model’s to suddenly pull out giant printed shawls or Grachvogel to include further collaborations with other great accessory designers similar to Weller.
Maybe I am missing the point, and I am sure these beautiful designs will speak for themselves when they are splashed across magazines come Spring/Summer next year.
Either way – Grachvogel manages to convince us that tie dye is not just a ’70s throw back look any more – it is a fully fledged chic print and when it comes to elegant fashion she really is starting to steal the show.
Follow Faye @epinettefiles
