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Haider Ackermann: Mode’s New Metaphor, Madness

Paris runways are full of the ‘disturbed woman’ theme; if Friday night finished with Yohji Yamamoto’s crazed females, Saturday morning, March 7, opened with mad mode at Haider Ackermann, in a sensationally well cut and composed collection.

“A troubled woman, escaping her past, but coming from nowhere,” winked, sibyl-like, Ackermann when explaining his fall 2009 collection backstage.

In a sense, this was classical Ackermann with his signature leather jackets, sculpted like hand puppets. Yet there was also an insanity plea, seen in the jagged draping of felt dresses, whose lines recalled the twisted spirals of an brain activity graph.

Even his rare print was distressed – such as his broken plaid, fur lined bolero, the best biker look seen anywhere this season.

Ackermann cuts with a grand, yet always arty, hand; so felt wool gowns, swirl bias-cut to the floor, and boleros dip like men’s dress vests. His devil was also in the great details – like mossy bullion flowers, that rimmed jodhpur pants or fringed vests, or a Valentino red curtain tassel belt, or a mesmerizing metal scarf, worn, crazily, as a vest that barely covered the model’s breasts.

Ackermann, a Columbian born, Antwerp trained, one-time John Galliano assistant, has had a slow boil of career, but this show confirmed him as a major voice in fashion. One could tell from the applause meter, the prolonged, hearty clapping that celebrated this first rate show and delicate look at bothered ladies.

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