Gustavolins FW 2012 2013 Couture

by: Ria de Borja

The collection, said designer Gustavo Lins, was about 3 things: manufacture nationale de Sèvres, Brazilian soccer, and haute couture. It sounded complicated, and at first hard to see. When a male model came out holding a soccer ball, however, the relevance to sport was instant. Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, a French national institution that makes porcelain, produced the jewellery that accompanied the collection.

In the black silk ensembles, cropped and sinuously morphing on the body or swinging like a cape, the designer’s specialty was apparent: sharp cuts, subtle drapes. A blue skirt with a ruffle in the back that flounced down the backside and legs, paired with a cropped blouse that looked utterly natural wrapped simply around the upper body–as if the fabric was made to be cut just so–were a showcase of technique in shaping fabric to the body. (The designer, after all, trained to be an architect.) Was this the haute-couture-inspired part of this haute couture collection? A blue fur shrug stood out, not just due to the colour but the easy breezy swing it made mid-back.

The colour-splashed silks dresses were a new addition to the designer’s portfolio, cut simpler than previous’ collections scarflike dresses, with more pieces falling on the body without wrapping around it, no heavy draping, and lighter in colour. They looked–next to the intricately cut pieces–plain and simple. That could have been the point.

One wondered if there was more of this Brazilian soccer that he mentioned–other details not noticeable right away. Lins replied, “I’d like to give haute couture a sporty attitude if you can.”

Gustavo Lins Haute Couture Collection 019 – 2min version from AEON Creatives on Vimeo.