Christopher Raeburn womenswear, fall 2014 – text by Silvia Bombardini

Dear Shaded Viewers and Diane,

 

Who knows what goes on behind the scenes, but unlike the frantic pace of many, one often gets from a Christopher Raeburn show a sense of eased competence, punctuality and soundness. As if the gloomy weather and the pesky breeze that ruffles our coiffures, or all those puddles that sent quite a few high heels to the sky these past few days, wouldn't cause the Raeburn woman but a condescending smile. As the focus of the world turns to Sochi for better or worse, Raeburn shows us what to wear when a real winter is involved: heavy outerwear redesigned from deconstructed Siberian military coats, or wool capes printed all over with 1930s Russian watercolours of the palest icescapes – because efficiency might be the new black, but with delicacy and care. Seamlessly lifted from his recent menswear collection, in that way Raeburn has to be coherent but never boring, AURORA was inspired by the ladies of the North Pole, the female explorers as portrayed in Axelsson's "Last Days of the Arctic". Traditional ladylike shapes are forgotten in favour of functionality and strength, as their sex appeal comes from resolve and soul. A dream many of us will remember from days of late childhood, when the first vestiges of some intuitive feminism would show, and we were left thinking, why would I want to become a princess, when I could become an explorer instead. Louise Boys, who followed through, is quoted in Raeburn's flyer:

"We sail across a strip of pack ice 100 to 150 miles wide, which takes from one to two weeks. Polar bears, seals, musk oxen and foxes are there. The nearest settlement is Scoresby Sound and ahead of us the great icebergs and fields stretch."

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Later,

Silvia

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