There’s always a lot to take in at an Opening Ceremony presentation. This morning, that included a parade of models down Howard Street, two lithe live violinists whom Carol Lim and Humberto Leon had discovered busking in the subway, and the much-expanded Opening Ceremony store itself, where the presentation was held. Then, of course, there were the clothes: Lim and Leon chose to show their women’s Resort and men’s Spring collections in tandem, and both of these collections mashed up a multitude of materials and ideas. Sensory overload has become something of a signature of the OC brand.
At any rate, the ideas here were worth exploring. Conceptually, the most interesting one was about magnification vs. micro-fication, demonstrated in prints that featured photographic fronds and palm trees, on the one hand, or magnified bacterium (or something) on the other. One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small. And the trippiest print of all, for some reason, was the one with all the anemones. Why anemones? Why not? Lim and Leon used the anemones in both the men’s and women’s collections.
From the point of view of sales, meanwhile, the most interesting thing in the women’s collection was the new denim. As Leon explained, Opening Ceremony has no intention of getting into the skinny denim trade; they just want to use denim as a fashion fabric. They’ll find lots of takers for their printed and stitch-detail minis and jeans, which looked particularly good paired with this collection’s fine, graphic ottoman knits.
Over on the menswear side of the store, the vibe was more sporty. Mesh, zip details, anoraks. Fabrications were key here, with cool materials like a latex-coated cotton done in yellow or a spongy technical that gave pieces like a natty gray coat a futuristic feel. The op-art knits compounded the trippiness. Taken together, these men’s and women’s collections may mark the moment that Opening Ceremony matured its tone from quirky-cute to downright weird. Which isn’t a bad thing in the least.
