Emilio de la Morena

EMILIO DE LA MORENA – AUTUMN/WINTER 2012/13

This season, Emilio de la Morena revisits his Spanish roots with a collection inspired by some of the country’s historic traditional dress.  

Like a foreigner in a new land De La Morena was attracted to the striking silhouette of the Costume de Ceremonia from Anso in the Alto Aragon and Roncalesa in Navarra and the Traje de Agua in Ochagavia in Navarra.  The sculpture and austerity of the women’s headwear pieces spiked his imagination for the Autumn/Winter ’12 collection.

De La Morena takes a hiatus from his signature mini cocktail dress in favour of a darker, more grown-up approach.  Skirts are strictly straight and fall just past the knee, or longer, to new, ankle-skimming lengths.  Both styles are rigorously tailored but for ease of movement, the designer engineers them in wool with stretch, or otherwise, cuts on the bias.

In contrast, are the voluminous sculptured wool coats, which are long and masculine with glossy ponyskin accents, and all-encompassing hooded jackets that are pinched into seams at the waist, a silhouette that is further punctuated with simple, double-buckle leather belts.  The cinched waist is also emphasised in this season’s knitwear offering of roll neck sweaters and gilets in chunky waffle weaves with form-fitting ribbed trims.

The palette is suitably dark and centres on black, forest greet, oxblood, and Bordeaux.  Petrol blue with ivory, pale pink, and spearming provide some light relief, so too do a series of neatly tailored wet-look patent leather tops, which add a new dimension of texture.  Decoration is minimal and takes its cue from the knots typically tied in headscarves, while prints are fittingly sombre.  A photograph of a forest in Spain, taken by De La Morena is manipulated into a dark graphics and transferred onto narrow, faux leather trousers, maxi skirts, and shell tops and elsewhere on manly, starched cotton shirts with bib fronts.

This seasons headpieces, a collection of delicate wire headbands with knotted patent leather and nappa bows, are in collaboration with bespoke milliner, J Smith Esquire.