An enthusiastic herald of the narrative powers of fashion-making, Ulyana Sergeenko keeps telling captivating stories through her collections. Season after season, she follows the adventures of a restless heroine whose hunger for life in its many facets is reflected in the way her wardrobe morphs and evolves as her experiences grow.
After last season’s trip to Samarkand, the Ulyana Sergeenko woman celebrates her homecoming with a big, lavish party of pure, undiluted fun. Her character is inspired by Shirley MacLaine in the movie What a way to go (1964), which on its turn was an homage to Countess Mona von Bismarck, who used marriage as a pass to high society, befriended Truman Capote and loved pink. The show itself happens in Bismarck’s Parisian mansion, the interiors bathed in pink, and is an amused and amusing ode to love, a force way stronger than money.
Ulyana Sergeenko dresses her heroine in airy feathers and fancy dresses, fur coats made with money bills and shoes with cat ears, mixing irony with glamour. A feline theme runs through, naughtily: cat paws are scattered on leopard prints – a first for Sergeenko – or turn into embroidery on gloves and dresses; the image of a cat becomes a structural element on corsets and dresses. Money is another motif, as banknotes of the Ulyana Sergeenko Bank are printed on organza and gathered on boas, coats, trains, becoming an amusing substitute to fur. Money becomes a print, too, or is rendered in hand-knitted Vologda lace. The season’s flower is the gladiolus – a memory of the bouquets given to the hostess of the party – appearing on jacquard skirts, dresses, and bright green and red pointy shoes. Mohair sweaters are
embellished with appliqué of embroidered roses; dresses are entirely covered with colored feathers. Precious material such as silk organza, coated silk, silk crepe, chiffon with a shiny coating, wool and lace come in a voluptuous palette of shades of pink, from bright to muted, mixed with green, blue, light blue, yellow, gold and silver, plus white and black.
Accessories play with the idea of illusion: shoes sprout cat ears, a wine glass becomes a handbag, a diamond tiara becomes a headband with a cat face, and a cocktail glass. High heel shoes are studded with rhinestones. Boas are mandatory, as are diamond-studded tiaras and voluminous hairpins-bows. As the protagonist of the most amusing and glamorous party, the Ulyana Sergeenko woman enjoys life through the sheer joy of dressing up, adventure after adventure.