OC x LFW: Christopher Kane SS13

As a procession of white gave way to pink in Christopher Kane's show yesterday, we prepped ourselves for a sugar high. When buttercup yellow and pale Parma Violet followed, a candy binge seemed like a sure thing. But then, a little over halfway through, Boris Karloff's silhouette appeared on a slouchy sleeveless tee. And suddenly, it clicked. Those clear fastenings holding together draped crepe dresses and pantsuits? Bolts—Frankenstein's creature's neckwear of choice. Like the crux in a well-plotted horror movie, the shift made the innocence of the first half brilliantly shudder-inducing.

The show's second half ran with the ghoulishness. The black rubber bows that coated a pencil skirt looked like liquorice—the kind you'd find coating a sinister gingerbread house. And while translucent pastel skirt-top combos kept up the sugary base notes, and appliquéd bijoux added baroque sparkle, the pieces retained the feeling of a recently escaped trauma. Sticking panels of lace and jeweled cameos to clean-cut sheaths and skirt suits were strips of black and white tape. Combined with the patisserie palette, the overall impression was of Marie Antoinette making a hasty, doomed escape from Versailles, jewelry pinned to underclothes. The story of sweetness subverted is a Christopher Kane favorite, and this season is a classic we already want to watch over and over again.

E-mail RAE@OPENINGCEREMONY.US to be notified when the Spring/Summer 2013 collection arrives at OC!

Photos by Style.com