Designer Tony Ward created a collection of sheer beauty in every sense of the word for Spring/Summer 2015, and gave it some sensual seasoning.
Consider an antique pink, sheer floor-length dress that both hugged the figure and decorated it with a smattering of sequins which served to provide a modicum of decorum on this see-through gown, paired with a silky pink jacket that took bedroom into the ballroom.
The designer took his inspiration from Gothic architecture and art and used typical symbols like the rose or archways found in buildings from the era while some of these looks were thought of as being akin to a stained glass window, allowing light and beauty to shine through, drenched in color.
Far from being all dark and Goth, the lighter shades like wooden pink and baby blue and the first few looks, like a ballerina tutu dress in pink that extended to the knees, made one think of a little princess that wanted something to wear now that she is all grown up.
The beauty of the collection was also wrought in details like delicate tracery made of ornamental silk wires and fine materials like lace and printed gazer or crinoline. But the pieces were also given structure through some of the symmetrical lines found in Gothic architecture, and deployed here to create distinctive dimensions.
Think straight central panels running down the center of a wedding dress that extended into an exaggerated, almost A-form skirt. But the designer worked in new techniques developed by the atelier to bring what was described as a lost heroine into the here and now.
She carried with her the fragile beauty of a creature too delicate for this world, and brought with her dresses as light as a feather, unwrapped from between fine paper in the attic of a mansion from yesteryear that had stayed locked for centuries, until the key was found and the beauty unleashed from within.